BAU_Butzer Architects and Urbanism

NASA/Johnson Space Center Lunar Receiving Lab Park

NASA's Lunar Receiving Park honors the innovative team who brought home the moon, or more specifically, those who worked within NASA’s Lunar Receiving Lab (LRL), also known as Building 37 (B37).

By treating the park similarly to an archeological site, we touch the ground lightly, inspiring visitors to exercise reverence for the LRL’s mission and view its relics from a particular vantage. The park’s design leverages five elements that symbolize the various historical efforts undertaken within B37. These include:

1.)    The salvaged High Bay doors, through which the astronauts journeyed upon their return to the Johnson Space Center via the Mobile Quarantine Facility.

2.)    The Radiation Counting Lab (RCL), which served as the lab for incoming moon rocks.

3.)    The network of hallways traversed daily by JSC staff and collaborators to accomplish the LRL’s mission.

4.)    The isolation rooms, where the astronauts were quarantined before health and safety evaluations.

5.)    The salvaged “37” signage, under which the cleared astronauts exited the building with their loved ones.

The experience of visiting the park is characterized by comfort and education. Informational signage accompanies each element and shade trees hug various locations along the elliptical path to define space and offer refuge from the Texas heat. As visitors orbit the elliptical path, they are invited to rest and observe the relics of B37.