The Center for Sustainable Landscapes is a 24,350-square-foot education, research and administration facility at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh. The design team’s challenge was to meet an unprecedented palette of green standards while creating a facility that would serve a multitude of functions and integrate with the guest experience.
A California city started from scratch for its new library instead of renovating after it outgrew space for its vital community programs. The new, net zero energy library will meet its diverse community’s needs for years to come.
For buildings to withstand sea-level rise, coastline erosion, and hurricanes, they need to be built to work with nature, not against it. The Brock Environmental Center is a living example of how to minimize impact on the environment while being resilient to future challenges. The triple net zero building is the latest to receive Living Building Challenge certification and is the first in the U.S. to receive a permit for drinking rainwater treated to federal standards.
For schools in drought-stricken areas, net zero energy and water strategies help future-proof against utility rate hikes. But, the price tag for net zero can be too high for school budgets. Fortunately, a library project at Sacred Heart School in northern California illustrates that it is possible to deliver a net zero energy building within a conventional budget while teaching kids about the value of conserving resources.
Learn how the Bullitt Center is pushing the bounds of sustainable design—and how tenant buy-in is contributing to lower than expected energy use.
For the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, a headquarters that operated on a net zero energy basis wasn’t enough.
The small town of Chrisney, Ind., turned to net zero to overcome financial hurdles and realize the residents’ dream of building a library. The town lost its high school in the 1970s and then its highway due to an expansion and rerouting, and hoped a library would stem the tide of decline. For five years, the small, simple library has served as a source of pride for this shrinking town, providing a resource for information and a community gathering place while producing more electricity than it consumes.
Before construction of the Hood River Middle School Music and Science Building, music students practiced in an old bus barn outbuilding and science students conducted experiments in a lab with outdated equipment.
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