Montana State University, School of Architecture — ARCH 356: Architectural Design IV, Spring 2026

This project tasked students with designing an interpretive center in Nazca, Peru dedicated to the ancient Nazca Lines — massive geoglyphs etched into the desert plateau that have fascinated archaeologists, scientists, and theorists for decades. The center would serve as a destination for visitors seeking to understand and experience the lines, combining hospitality, education, and contemplation in a single architectural program.

The project unfolded in two major phases. The first phase centered on research and conceptual development. Students investigated the Nazca Lines through a wide range of sources — archaeological scholarship, alternative scientific theories suggesting astronomical or geological connections, and more speculative interpretations from outside mainstream academia. This research was synthesized into a written document with images and then distilled into a 2.5D "construct": a physical-and-printed hybrid piece (minimum 18"×24") that layered theories, aerial imagery, site context, and personal interpretation into a kind of palimpsest. The construct was meant to generate conceptual directions for the design — not illustrate a conclusion, but open up possibilities.

The second phase moved into architectural programming and massing. Students developed the building's program by determining room sizes, occupancy, and spatial qualities for spaces including hotel accommodations, an auditorium, a café, observation areas, and contemplation spaces. This involved researching precedents (3–5 hotel room plan variations, for example), calculating total square footage and occupant loads, and considering qualitative characteristics — what should the observation tower feel like? From there, students produced space adjacency diagrams, horizontal and vertical bubble diagrams tied to the site, and ultimately 3–5 massing study variations exploring how the program could take physical form. A key challenge was connecting the building's organization back to the conceptual work — letting ideas about why the Nazca Lines exist shape how the building is arranged.