School of Business Wisdom
Mulberry Farm
Where: Madison County, North CarolinaWith: Cutler Anderson Architects
This school offers a place for the education of business wisdom. A small building with a lecture hall and two breakout classrooms, as well as small back of house and administration spaces. The building is centered around a 200 year old Oak tree deemed the “Wisdom Tree.” The entire orientation of the building is around this tree, giving the main lecture hall/multipurpose space a view directly in admiration of this aged specimen. The building is a play of roofs on two main masses connected by an entry foyer. The building sits on the highest point of the entire site. The main lecture hall mass has a compound sloped roof - the framing members are ripped on the top and bottom to give the slope its rise along both the south and east axes. The two masses are joined by the entry space that opens up to a balcony connecting one classroom and the audtorium space, with views of the entire site. The simple wood framed building is made complex by sitting on top of its foundation to give the effect of the building sitting on a plinth. This also gave way for a crawl space to hold all HVAC equipment and ducting, which made it possible to have an open cavity ceiling exposing on the interior the glulam members. This building began schematic design in August of 2019 and I contributed to the entire process of documentation through construction administration - including coordination among disciplines as well as putting together the specifications, schedules, and handling communication between contractors, engineers, and clients. This building was the first building to start construction for the campus.
