L.S. Peery Environmental Education Building

Accommodating over 20,000 visitors a year, the Education Center supports the environmental education mission and programs of the Nature Center. Its purpose is to serve as a gateway to the nature preserve and a tool to expand awareness of possibilities related to a more sustainable relationship between the built and natural environment. The building serves as a “teacher.” It incorporates a variety of environmentally sustainable materials and systems, interpreted through a range of passive and interactive exhibits. Special features include straw-bale/earthen plaster walls, salvage lumber, displacement evaporative cooling, radiant flooring, heat chimney and natural/adaptive artificial lighting. One hundred percent of the building’s energy is supplied by roof-mounted photovoltaics. Based on our site analysis, the building and fenestration orientation allows for the collection of solar energy. Shielded from the sun during the summer, the building captures beneficial breezes and protects the courtyard areas from the canyon winds emerging from the east.  Spaces developed for the facility include a foyer with an interpretive gallery, classrooms for environmental study, six offices for teachers / naturalists, gift and book shop, meeting spaces and a volunteer room with an adjacent volunteer coordinator’s office. The central two-story gallery space is flanked by lean-to wings are sheltered by planted roots.