Environmental Nature Center, Newport Beach, USA

Environmental Nature Center, Newport Beach, California, USA
Opened in June 2008, The Environmental Nature Center at Newport Beach is the first building in Orange County with LEED Platinum certification. Founded over 30 years ago, ENC (Environment Nature Center) is a non-profit corporation organizing educational programs about the environment and the natural world. These programs, such as “Little Naturalists”, “Science Cuisine”, “Fabulous Flowers”, etc., are intended for students, interested in the concepts of protection of the natural world around us. Constructed by the design of the company LPA Inc., the academic building has gross floor area of about 790 square meters (8,500 square feet) and total area of 3,5 acres (1 ha 4163 square meters). Environmental Nature Center was built by Gentosi Builders, Inc. and features a unique green roof, with an array of photovoltaic solar panels, producing electricity, and a specific system for harvesting stormwater. The filtered water is later reused for irrigating the surrounding landscape which consists of 15 species of native drought-tolerant plants. Cool ocean breezes and the perfect system of natural ventilation help to reduce costs on electricity, as there’s no need for air-conditioning in the building.

By Astghik Atabekyan, www.building.am