Atchafalaya Welcome Center, Butte LaRose

Client: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources

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The Atchafalaya Welcome Center on Interstate 10 in Butte LaRose is not an ordinary highway rest stop, with bathrooms, vending machines, and a few old maps and brochures. It’s a showcase for the Atchafalaya Basin. With its educational theater, museum-quality exhibits, and distinctive architecture and landscaping, it is as much a place to go to as it is a place to stop. It’s part of a Department of Natural Resources campaign to make Atchafalaya a household word by 2010 as it promotes eco-tourism in Louisiana.

Like most Acadian-style buildings, the welcome center features a deep raised gallery that wraps around three sides of the building entrance and high ceilings with exposed beams. The theater-in-the round is housed in a Pigeonaire, another characteristic of Acadian farms.

Although the center is a destination in its own right, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources has also worked to make it particularly hospitable and convenient for travelers. There’s parking for cars, recreational vehicles, and tour buses as well as facilities for commercial truckers.

ABMB worked with Capdevielle Losavio Architects to perform the site civil and roadway design on the project, including site layout, grading, paving, drainage improvements, and parking. We coordinated with the state and federal government on the design of the exit and on ramps for the interstate. “Altogether, this was a fun project to be part of,” notes Andre Rodrigue, project manager for site civil.”  The $5 million project opened in summer 2004.

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