Bands of local stone wrap the Youngmeyer Field Station, which was designed and built by Kansas studio Hutton to integrate with the natural topography and operate off the grid.
Located in eastern Kansas, the building sits within the 4,700-acre (1,902-hectare) Youngmeyer Ranch, which is an active cattle ranch and research site for Wichita State University.
Youngmeyer Field Station is an off-grid research centre
The area's plants, animals, soils and waterways are of interest to researchers, particularly given the ranch's location within Flint Hills ? a region known for its important tall-grass prairie ecosystem. Once vast, this type of ecosystem has declined since the 1800s due to farming.
Situated on a rocky bluff, the Youngmeyer Field Station holds a laboratory, meeting space and a garage, along with living quarters to accommodate up to six researchers. The single-storey building was designed to integrate with the landscape
Irregular in plan, the single-storey building was designed to integrate with the landscape and to withstand heavy winds and other natural forces.
"Like the dugouts of the Midwestern frontier days, the field station is partially embedded in the earth to protect the facility from northern winds and to further the contextual camouflage," said Hutton, a multi-service practice in Kansas.
Hutton designed the facades using local limestone, arranged in bands
For added protection from both wind and wildfire, the facility is made of concrete and clad in d...