Youngmeyer Field Station

Project highlights: Youngmeyer Field Station

• Architecture firm: Hutton
• Location: Elk County, Kan.
• Category: Two
• Project site: Not previously developed
• Building program type(s): Education - college/university (campus-level) 

• Surrounded by thousands of acres of North America’s most endangered ecosystem, Youngmeyer Field Stations is a tallgrass prairie research outpost and retreat space for Wichita State University in Kansas. Though it’s just 50 miles from campus, the station, which offers 3,400 square feet of laboratory, meeting, and living space for six researchers, is completely off the grid and self-sustaining with no connection to public or rural utilities. 

  Tallgrass prairie once covered more than 150 million acres of North America, but less than 4% of the ecosystem remains, largely located in Kansas’ Flint Hills. Given its shallow, rocky soil, the region is unsuitable for farming and challenging for development, effectively preserving the ecosystem, its wildlife, and its expansive views. 

  Since 2014, the university has conducted research at the 4,700-acre Youngmeyer Ranch, once a working cattle ranch, focused on a wide range of subjects. Before the station was completed, researchers either camped for short periods or made daily trips between the site and Wichita. The new station empowers both educators and students to stay longer and process more samples of greater variety. It also allows the university to use the site for artistic studies and host small-scale retreats. 

From the beginning of the design process, the vision for the station was a low-profile and highly contextual form that would disappear from a distance, making it a good neighbor to the surrounding Flint Hills. Inspiration for its form and appearance came from the region’s stratified stone. 

The station’s function and location equally demanded integration into the environment and the fortitude to withstand natural forces. Its exterior evokes a cutaway hillside that seems to rise from the earth much like a crest of natural limestone. Its form folds toward eastern views of the sunrise and a pond in a valley below, while its sloping walls and thin, tapered roof work in concert to camouflage it further. 

Much like the dugouts that characterized Midwestern frontier days, the station is partially embedded in the earth. The station’s private and utilitarian spaces were placed in the solid hillside, while its most occupied spaces have full access to picturesque views. Its main gathering space opens fully onto scenery on two sides, allowing the focus to remain fully on the landscape. 

As of last fall, the university has completed five research terms at the station. Current investigations include invasive plant species management, prairie restoration and recovery from overgrazing, and the incidence of West Nile virus in birds. Above all, the project is a case study for other institutions seeking to create permanent field research stations.