The point where two rivers intersect creates a unique landscape, especially in an estuary. It is at this site that tall marsh grasses give way to a shrub thicket which transitions into a maritime forest. These different zones create different experiences. An even greater variety of encounters are created depending upon one’s perspective, from within, above, or on level with the landscape. The research and education center is integrated into all three zones and at different levels, so where ever one is in the building one can experience something new.

The program is segregated into public and private space; with the public classrooms, auditorium and exhibition on the first floor and the semi-private library and herbarium on the second floor. These distinctions are further denoted by vertical cedar louvers in the public areas relating to the maritime forest and horizontal louvers paralleling the river.