The tight building envelope employs spray-foam insulation not only because of its outstanding performance characteristics, but also because it contains no ozone-depleting blowing agents or formaldehyde that could compromise indoor environmental quality.

The Center’s forest research and policy initiatives emphasize the importance of using FSC-certified and sustainably harvested lumber throughout the building. Examples include sustainably harvested ash millwork; certified fir windows; certified maple flooring from Maine; certified cedar shingles, clapboard siding, and trim; and certified framing lumber and decking to the extent possible.

Stone walls rely largely on fieldstone and glacial erratics drawn from the site.

Careful selection of furnishings favors products with high recycled content in aluminum, fabrics, desk substrates, veneer, and steel components. Examples include task chairs and desk systems with high recycled content and conference tables from sustainably harvested or recycled sources.

The building lies within the watershed of Oyster Bay, a coastal pond at risk from nitrogen. Within this context, the presence of a pair of local research and policy programs studying the forests and waters of Cape Cod brings the global reach of the Center’s initiatives much closer to home. The Center develops techniques using satellite imagery to measure one widespread negative effect of development on coastal ecology. Excessive fertilization – largely created by conventional septic systems – results from wastewater discharge generated by population growth.

The Center’s policy and research programs and the building’s location within a sensitive coastal ecosystem made it imperative for the design of the project not to diminish local water quality but, rather, to enhance it where possible. A wastewater treatment system renders visible these research activities. As waste material moves through this innovative septic system, the Center’s soils science department collects data as they experiment with alternative denitrifying strategies. The building also supports best practices with water-conserving fixtures.

上一頁 1 2 3 4 下一頁