The new Niagara Falls Visitor Center, located within Niagara Falls State Park, will offer an immersive experience, both inside the building and out, as it takes visitors on a journey spanning the eras of geological formation and human impacts on the falls and highlighting the flora and fauna of the environs.
Designed by GWWO Architects, the 29,000-sf center will include visitor orientation, a lobby, interactive exhibits, a gift shop, dining, outdoor terraces, and an overlook. The building frames views to the head of the falls and gracefully transitions visitors between the formal entrance gardens in the upper site and the Frederick Law Olmsted- designed landscape of the lower grove.
The expansive glass facade maximizes views and offers continuous connections to the falls throughout the lobby and exhibit areas. The building will be integrated with its site and history via natural materials such as limestone sourced from the Niagara escarpment, wood ceilings, and blackened metal roof and soffit.
The facility’s design will emphasize nature and allow visitors to choose their own path and level of discovery, which will allow for social distancing and crowd control. Outdoor interpretation, dining, and a new accessible path will provide safe spaces for visitors to gather.
The new visitor center will also include sustainable features such as bifacial photovoltaic panels that will be expressed around the perimeter of the roof of the building, with openings in the entrance canopy that will allow them to be viewed from below. Two cisterns will be installed to capture water from the building’s roof to irrigate native plantings on the site.
The Niagara Falls Visitor Center is expected to open in Spring 2023.
Related Stories
Architects | Feb 27, 2015
5 finalists announced for 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award
Bjarke Ingels' Danish Maritime Museum and the Ravensburg Art Museum by Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei are among the five projects vying for the award.
Museums | Feb 18, 2015
Foster + Partners' National Museum of Marine Science and Technology breaks ground in Taiwan
The museum will be home to an aquarium, exhibition space, and waterfront views.
Museums | Feb 17, 2015
Light will shimmer through roof cutouts in Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi
After many delays since construction started in 2009, the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi is slated for completion sometime this year.
Architects | Feb 11, 2015
Shortlist for 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award announced
Copenhagen, Berlin, and Rotterdam are the cities where most of the shortlisted works have been built.
Museums | Feb 9, 2015
Herzog & de Meuron's M+ museum begins construction in Hong Kong
When completed, M+ will be one of the first buildings in the Foster + Partners-planned West Kowloon Cultural District.
Museums | Feb 6, 2015
Tacoma Art Museum's new wing features sun screens that operate like railroad box car doors
The 16-foot-tall screens, operated by a hand wheel, roll like box car doors across the façade and interlace with a set of fixed screens.
| Jan 19, 2015
HAO unveils designs for a 3D movie museum in China
New York-based HAO has released designs for the proposed Bolong 3D Movie Museum & Mediatek in Tianjin.
| Jan 13, 2015
Steven Holl unveils design for $450 million redevelopment of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts
Holl designed the campus’ north side to be a pedestrian-centered cultural hub on a lively landscape with ample underground parking.
| Jan 2, 2015
Construction put in place enjoyed healthy gains in 2014
Construction consultant FMI foresees—with some caveats—continuing growth in the office, lodging, and manufacturing sectors. But funding uncertainties raise red flags in education and healthcare.
| Dec 29, 2014
'Russian nesting doll' design provides unique fire protection solution for movie negatives
A major movie studio needed a new vault to protect its irreplaceable negatives for films released after 1982. SmithGroupJJR came up with a box-in-a-box design solution. It was named a Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
