Located in York County, South Carolina, the Museum of Life and the Environment explores the relationships between culture and nature, people and place, by focusing on the heritage of the Carolina Piedmont and other demonstrative environments around the world.

The client, York County Culture & Heritage Commission, is currently fundraising for the 120,000-square-foot museum. The building’s form, materiality, and relationship to the landscape are inspired by existing ruins of fish weirs below the building site. The design envisions a building set into the existing heavily sloped site and covered with a vegetated roof. Christopher Hays led the project while Partner at William McDonough + Partners.

• Arch News Now: Riverside Reveries