The 6,000 sf  Interpretive Center serves as a gateway to the site surrounding the house where Walt Whitman was born. The facility admits controlled daylight and segregates hot air for exhaust during swing seasons, minimizing the need for air conditioning. The use of exposed structure dramatically reduced the need for applied architectural finishes while establishing a sympathetic vocabulary to the early nineteenth-century birthplace house. Exhibits on the wall form a reverse timeline, beginning with the mature Whitman who is most familiar and leads back through his formative years to his birth place.