NASA broke ground on July 16, 2007 on the Exploration Sciences Building in Greenbelt, Md. Located at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the three-story environmentally friendly office and laboratory building was designed by EwingCole, an architecture and engineering firm with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. M+W Zander provided laboratory planning consultation. Providing state of the art labs and technologies, the facility will accommodate research in space and earth science. The multi-million dollar Exploration Sciences Building is the first building in Goddard Space Flight Center's campus master plan and will provide an anchor for a new pedestrian-friendly science neighborhood.
Integrating sustainable design principles, the project features a flexible layout with collaborative spaces strategically located in coordination with NASA’s organizational structure and the building circulation to facilitate informal interaction between scientists. The design allows for the efficient and effective configuration of utilities and laboratory spaces, including new chemistry, electronics and research laboratories. The new building will be occupied by personnel from the Astrophysics Science Division, the Solar Systems Exploration Division, as well as the Directorate office itself. The building is LEED registered and actively pursuing LEED for New Construction Silver Certification; NASA has determined that all new facilities projects will reach the Silver rating. Sustainable design features of the project include site selection, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. NASA has awarded a contract to Manhattan Construction Company of Fairfax, Va., for the construction of the building, beginning later in 2007.
