Passerine Pavilion is a universally-accessible scenic overlook pavilion set within a newly restored tallgrass prairie. The design process began with a series of rapid charrettes generating multiple, intentionally-divergent, concepts. Principles were openly discussed, debated, and adapted in real-time, seeking a convergence of ideas. The studio built consensus around a meandering line parti, for its potential to provide all visitors with an experience of moving through a restored prairie guided by a gabion wall. Seeking to elevate all visitors above the prairie landscape and guide sightlines toward the horizon, a cantilevered deck and wing-like roof began to emerge.

Passerine Pavilion is akin to a grassland bird poised to leap from the hill into a prairie landscape. The overlook’s wings, perched on four pairs of steel columns, slope back toward its tail. The feather-patterned, reclaimed street-sign, aluminum-clad roof provides protection. A break in the gabion wall acts as a threshold into a prairie garden. The wood deck cantilevers into the open air, instilling a sensation of rising above the landscape. This arrangement affords all visitors, regardless of their mobility, an experience of beholding the surrounding Wakarusa River Valley.