The National Park Service opened the $4.4 million Twin Creeks Science and Education Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in fall of 2007. The 15,000-sf facility houses research for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI), a project documenting the 800-square-mile Park’s estimated 100,000 species of living organisms. Designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, the facility is seeking LEED Silver certification for sustainable design. Using extensive natural light and ventilation, the facility features an energy management system (EMS) that initiates an HVAC economizer cycle, exhausting hot air out and cycling outside air in. The EMS controls operable clerestory windows, allowing them to open automatically when temperature and humidity conditions are appropriate and to close when outside conditions are no longer suitable for building conditioning, at which point the EMS demands heating or cooling from the HVAC system. A thermal envelope achieves additional energy savings and a natural storm water management system protects water quality. The project also features salvaged and natural building materials, low VOC interior finishes, and low-flow water faucets with mini hydroelectric rechargers. The center houses a high bay flexible workspace, a wet lab, a rearing room for species cultivation, curatorial space for specimen archives, a sophisticated GIS mapping room; a classroom/conference room, offices, and equipment storage.
The project team included:
- Lord, Aeck & Sargent (Atlanta), architect, LEED certification administration, final energy modeling
- Hedges Construction (Atlanta), general contractor
- Newcomb & Boyd (Atlanta), MEP/FP engineerBarge, Waggoner Sumner & Cannon (Knoxville, Tenn.), civil engineer
- Palmer Engineering (Atlanta), structural engineerRocky Mountain Institute Built Environment Team (formerly the ENSAR Group) (Snowmass, Colo.), daylighting and energy optimization consultant
- Enermodal Engineering (Denver), preliminary energy modeling
- Clanton Associates (Boulder, Colo.), lighting design
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Lord Aeck Sargent
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