The design is a full integration of building and site, each reinforcing the other through a variety of sustainable strategies. Traditional Louisiana building responses such as deep shaded porches, elevating the building for protection from high water, and cistern collected rainwater are utilized along with the high tech vertical axis wind turbine and roof-integrated solar panels. The exhibition hall is floored in locally salvaged longleaf pine boards and provides flexible exhibit space for promoting cultural and tourism opportunities in the parish.

Two bog ponds, populated by bald cypress groves and Louisiana Iris, frame the entry and serve as a bio-filter, collecting roof runoff, cistern overflow, and water from the recycled asphalt parking lot. A boardwalk constructed of FSC certified ipe wood extends into the landscape where visitors can move through the site, elevated between the bog ponds and coastal prairie grasses. Shade structures punctuate the boardwalk, providing interpretive information about the ecology of the parish