by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

How do you . . . design a multi-use visitor’s center and environmental learning center with outdoor recreation?

Summary: The Orlando office of VOA Associates Inc. has completed schematic design for Cordova Center on the Rock, a new $50 million environmental, cultural, and entertainment center located on the shores of Lake Red Rock, near Des Moines. The project is seeking LEED Gold.

VOA, an international architecture, planning, and interior design firm, is lead consultant on the project, providing planning, architecture, and exhibit design. The team includes exhibit designer Cincinnati-based Jack Rouse Associates and Chicago-based theater designer Schuler Shook. Cordova Center on the Rock is a partnership project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Marion County Conservation Board, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Central College.

The schematic design for Cordova Center on the Rock, by VOA Associates Incorporated. The project will be located on the shores of Lake Red Rock, near Des Moines.

The center will encompass a large portion of Lake Red Rock’s north shore and include several buildings and outdoor recreation. The project will include a 30,000-square-foot interactive, multi-use Visitors Center/Environmental Learning Center. The Center expands over 70,000 square feet of space near Cordova Tower, an observation tower located on the north side of Lake Red Rock that features the world's longest and tallest continuous set of fiberglass stairs. There will also be a 500-seat outdoor Performing Arts Amphitheater. The buildings will integrate stone with glass for connection to the outdoors. The project also includes rental cabins, outdoor education exhibits, trails, play areas, an exhibit on water stewardship, and administrative offices.

The “Story of Water”
The Environmental Learning Center will feature interactive exhibits and displays on the “Story of Water” that demonstrate how a watershed works.

"This project is all about land and water stewardship," says Jonathan F. Douglas, AIA, managing principal with VOA and principal-in-charge. “Our charge is to connect people with nature by design; to 'tell the story', so to speak, about uplands watershed management and flood control of the Des Moines River so that the citizens of Iowa and all visitors here have a legacy of understanding and appreciation for their natural resources. In light of the recent flooding in Iowa this past summer, there is a dramatic need for public education regarding the role that soil conservation and watershed management play in the natural environment.”

The Center includes an indoor studio theater, a 400-seat meeting and banquet hall, a creative arts space and gift shop, and a café. The Cordova Center on the Rock project will have facilities for the administrative offices for Cordova Park, Lake Red Rock, Marion County, and the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Also, there will be a community learning component that allows for flexible performance space accessible for community use when not engaged by park activities. Throughout all buildings there are landscape views, and parking areas are embedded into the landscape.

Another important aspect of the Cordova Center on the Rock project is the development of recreational opportunities in the area. “Our charge is to create a destination that offers an extended amount of activities that appeal to a larger segment of the public,” Douglas summarized. “To do that, we must engage people in a variety of ways; to provide a series of connections that make for a compelling journey via an assemblage of attractions and activities that are all connected to the landscape. With this project, every aspect of the plan, from topography, site planning, and landscape issues to building design, exhibits, and signage, substantiates the message of land stewardship, thus providing value for both the guest and the operator.”