This week, the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, Va., earned Living Building Challenge certification from the International Living Future Institute. The certification means the building produced more energy than it used for 12 consecutive months while meeting other sustainable criteria.
One feature that defines the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s education building for the is rainwater filtration system that makes the rain drinkable. According to the building’s architect, SmithGroupJJR, the Brock Center is the first commercial building in the continental U.S. to be permitted to treat, to federal standards, harvested rainwater for potable uses. Rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in tanks below an elevated first floor. A filtration system renders the water suitable for drinking and hand washing.
The Brock Center also has waterless, composting toilets, and grey water from sinks and showers is filtered for use in an attached garden of native plants. Water is then naturally cleaned and returned to an underground aquifier.
SmithGroupJJR says the Brock Center generated 83% more energy than it used over the past year. Two 70-foot 10-kilowatt wind turbines and 168 solar panels were used to generate all of the building’s energy.
The 10,500-sf building also has sustainable features like natural daylighting and sunshading, natural ventilation, and geo-thermal heating and cooling.
The Brock Center was completed in November 2014 for $8 million.
(Click photos to enlarge. Photos: Prakash Patel, courtesy SmithGroupJJR.)
Related Stories
| Apr 20, 2012
McCarthy completes Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Replacement Facility
The new hospital’s architectural design combines traditional Santa Barbara Spanish colonial architecture with 21st century medical conveniences highlighted by a therapeutic and sustainable atmosphere.
| Apr 20, 2012
Registration open for Solar Power International 2012 in Orlando
President Bill Clinton to deliver keynote address at ?largest solar energy event in the Americas.
| Apr 18, 2012
Positive conditions persist for Architecture Billings Index
The AIA reported the March ABI score was 50.4, following a mark of 51.0 in February; greatest demand is for commercial building projects.
| Apr 17, 2012
Princeton Review releases “Guide to 322 Green Colleges”
The guide profiles 322 institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.
| Apr 17, 2012
FMI report examines federal construction trends
Given the rapid transformations occurring in the federal construction sector, FMI examines the key forces accelerating these changes, as well as their effect on the industry.
| Apr 17, 2012
Freese and Nichols awarded Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award
Freese and Nichols is the only engineering and architecture firm to ever receive this recognition.
| Apr 17, 2012
Miramar College police substation in San Diego receives LEED Platinum
The police substation is the first higher education facility in San Diego County to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, the highest rating possible.
| Apr 16, 2012
University of Michigan study seeks to create efficient building design
The result, the researchers say, could be technologies capable of cutting the carbon footprint created by the huge power demands buildings place on the nation’s electrical grid.
| Apr 16, 2012
$80 million in export financing for solar project in India
The project, “Rajasthan Sun Technique Energy Private Limited,” is a subsidiary of Reliance Power and is being co-financed by the Asian Development Bank and FMO, the Dutch development bank.
| Apr 12, 2012
Solar PV carport, electrical charging stations unveiled in California
Project contractor Oltman Construction noted that the carport provides shaded area for 940 car stalls and generates 2 MW DC of electric power.
