They Really Get It: Celebrating the UF Architecture Students at Vista

Today was one of those days that reminds you why Friends' work matters.

At Vista Camp, a project supported by UF's Gulf Scholars Program concluded with an appreciation lunch, and I'll be honest — listening to the students present their work very nearly brought me to tears. They described guiding visitors through the site in a curated way, creating a conversation between the people, the buildings, and the landscape. They didn't merely design and build benches and railings, they framed the history and nature of the place, allowing visitors to create their own memories in relation to it. They get it.

How the project came about.
Some months ago, Professor Charlie Hailey called Lower Suwannee Refuge Headquarters and asked to tour the Vista Camp for his upcoming book about Florida fish camps. Friends volunteer Debbie Meeks helped Professor Hailey get the information he needed, and the two discussed the needs and challenges of Vista. You could say Charlie's fish camp book sparked a mutually beneficial partnership between UF and the Refuge that was facilitated by the Friends.

What these students were asked to do was genuinely hard.
Work on the Refuge presents difficult parameters: no digging since the site has possible archaeological importance; a location that experiences periodic flooding; and being short-handed requires little or no ongoing maintenance. The students rose to meet all these challenges, then added a few of their own, carefully weighing environmental impact and aesthetic appeal in every decision.

The material choices alone show deep thinking.
They  used cypress — not just for its natural resistance to rot and insects, but because it mirrors the materials of Vista's historic structures. The Cummer Lumber Company, original owners of the Vista Camp, logged cypress throughout Florida, so the remaining buildings are constructed almost entirely of cypress from their sawmills. The students designed their work to belong here, practically and culturally.

To address wet conditions at this riverside location, their constructions are supported on either charred cypress (Shou Sugi Ban) or biochar concrete blocks. Charring creates a rot-resistant outer layer on the wood and, as the students noted, echoes the prescribed burns so essential to healthy habitats on the Refuge.

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The biochar concrete is where the students' thinking becomes especially inventive. Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced by heating organic matter — wood, agricultural waste — at high temperatures with little oxygen, a process called pyrolysis. Its porous structure makes it an ideal material for capturing and storing CO₂, effectively locking carbon away rather than releasing it. Research suggests that adding even 1% biochar by mass to concrete mixes could sequester 0.5 gigatons of CO₂ annually and reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of cement-based industries by 20%. By using biochar as aggregate in their footings, these students weren't just solving a structural problem — they were turning a carbon intensive building material into a carbon sink.

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Significant stops along the walk.
At the caretaker's house, a beautifully angled bench offers a pause and turns visitors toward the river — but the angle isn't arbitrary. It is inspired by the geometry of the surrounding oak grove, reflecting the trees own kind of architecture. Notice how the ends of the rail and bench don't simply stop; they dive into the ground and reemerge, a gesture that ties the furniture to the earth itself.

At another stop near the main house, a wide, flat bench sits beside the sign marking the height of the 1948 flood. This piece is intentionally omni-directional: you can sit facing the house or the river. You can lie down, spread out lunch, or open a box of watercolors. It asks nothing of you except that you be present.

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Finally, at the Suwannee River's edge, two oversized ergonomically designed lounge chairs invite relaxation and appreciation of the gift the Refuge's protected land and heritage sites offer the community. 

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That's the through-line in all of it: presence.
Every decision — material, angle, height, footing — was made in service of helping people actually be somewhere. Not pass through, not glance at, but inhabit. These students designed for slow attention in a landscape that deserves it.

We are so grateful to Professor Charlie Hailey and the entire Reflective Building: Design/Build with the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge studio for pouring their time and thinking into the Vista Camp. The studio included Sara Abdo, Carla Caballero Alvarez, Ryan Chillinsky, Clowey Jabour, Brielle Jean Baptiste, Francesca Meza Venegas, Alexander Mirenda, Ahmik Paul, Jazlyn Perloff, Noa Tako, Natalie Ulmer, Hannah Vogel, Julie Waldrop, and Kya Williams. ​Although this special place is not open to the public yet, it is a step closer thanks to them. What they've built will outlast the semester many times over.

Working drawings of the railing system showing an attention to detail. The modular, reconfigurable system will provide years of service and flexibility for future uses.