It’s the most energy efficient conservatory in the world and it’s right here in Pittsburgh.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens received the coveted 2007 Beyond Green High Performance Building Award, one of only eight organizations in the country to be so honored by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council.
Phipps is quickly becoming America’s greenest garden and a model for sustainable practices. The award recognizes the high performance design and the energy efficient construction of the 12,000 sf Tropical Forest, which opened in December of 2006. The design included a sloping roof with a high south wall for sun exposure and a roof equipped with thermal blankets to keep warm air inside and provide shade in the summer.
In 2005, Phipps opened a Welcome Center, another award-winning space that harnessed wind power through the purchase of wind energy credits. This September Phipps will break ground on its most ambitious project to date: an education, research and administration center that will generate its own energy with renewable resources and treat all of its own water on site.
With it Phipps has accepted the Living Building Challenge, striving to attain the highest level of LEED certification possible, beyond platinum, and raising the bar by building the greenest project technically available today.
“I hope that people will start asking questions and stop taking things for granted,” says executive director Richard Piacentini. “If you design a building and get the architects and engineers on the same page, if you take advantage of solar heating and cooling, you can build a green building for less than a regular building. That’s the kind of thinking we need to get started.”
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Richard Piacentini, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Image courtesy Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens