地址: Los Angeles, CA

建筑面积: 467 sq. meters

竣工日期: November 2003

社区文化: The focus of the project is environmental education. The Center provides educational programs for the 50,000 schoolchildren who live within two miles of the park. It includes a multipurpose "Discovery Room," for teaching and displays, a library and meeting room, a reception area, a gift shop, and a catering kitchen. The Debs Park facility is part of the Audubon Society's focus on establishing Centers in urban and underserved communities.

能源利用: Operating systems: electrical and lighting

The solar-electrical system powers all building systems, including heating, cooling, lighting, computers, and other office equipment. Outdoor recirculating fountains also operate on solar power. A 25-kW photovoltaic system (more than 200 photovoltaic crystalline panels) provides battery capacity for four or five winter days without direct sun. The 96 battery cells provide 5.6 rated amp-hours, 269 rated kilowatts, and 2.4 rated days.

Windows provide balanced natural light in all normally occupied areas of the facility, and artificial light is required only in the evening during winter months. Fluorescent lights use minimal energy in both the building's interior and on its surrounding site. Energy Star appliances reduce the overall electrical demand.

Fluorescent T-8 lamps are used, along with controls that must be turned on manually, but are shut off automatically when rooms are unoccupied.

Operating systems: solar heating and cooling, and fans

The 100% solar-powered heating and cooling systems will be used only when necessary. Exposed concrete walls and floors, along with high windows that open to flush out heat, moderate temperatures throughout the building. Operable windows allow for natural ventilation. Efficient fans will be used for ventilation when breezes are inadequate. Solar panels are used for sinks, lavatories, and showers.

节水方案: The building will use only 30% of the water typically consumed by a conventional building of the same size. The Center has no connection to the public sewer, meaning that 100% of the wastewater will be treated on site. The treatment system consists of a hybridized anaerobic/aerobic treatment and filtration process and a peracetic acid and ultraviolet light advanced oxidation disinfection process. Graywater and blackwater will be recycled for toilet flushing (pending approval by the City of Los Angeles). Approximately 30% will be recycled back into the soil through an anaerobic sub-surface dispersion field. Two-stage, low-flow toilets allow for different flow options. Once the landscaping is established, it will require no permanent irrigation.

Stormwater created by the development is kept onsite and diverted to a water quality treatment basin before being released to help recharge groundwater.

 

 

Photo credit: EHDD Architecture

Site Description

WATER

The building will use only 30% of the water typically consumed by a conventional building of the same size. The Center has no connection to the public sewer, meaning that 100% of the wastewater will be treated on site. The treatment system consists of a hybridized anaerobic/aerobic treatment and filtration process and a peracetic acid and ultraviolet light advanced oxidation disinfection process. Graywater and blackwater will be recycled for toilet flushing (pending approval by the City of Los Angeles). Approximately 30% will be recycled back into the soil through an anaerobic sub-surface dispersion field. Two-stage, low-flow toilets allow for different flow options. Once the landscaping is established, it will require no permanent irrigation.

Stormwater created by the development is kept onsite and diverted to a water quality treatment basin before being released to help recharge groundwater.

LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Several interwoven components of the landscape design work together to connect people with the natural history of the park and the surrounding landscape: 1) restored native plant communities, 2) park entrance and entry courtyard, 3) main interior courtyard, 4) children's garden, and 5) interpretive trail system.

Native plant restoration

The restoration of native habitat in Debs Park is as vital a component of the Audubon Center plan as environmental education. Although much of the perimeter portions of the park near the Center have been degraded and neglected in the past decades, enough vestiges of the natural communities remain to form a solid basis for restoration. The Center site represents the confluence of four distinct biomes characteristic not only of the Arroyo Seco, but also of much of southern California: Coastal Sage Scrub; Oak Sycamore Woodland; Meadow/Grassland; and Riparian habitat.

Habitat restoration will take place throughout the 17 acres of the park used by the Audubon Center, including the area immediately surrounding the building. All of the plants used will be California natives, most of which can be found on site in Debs Park. The primary characteristics of the plants are their resistance to draught and fire.

Park entrance and entry courtyard

From the moment visitors arrive at Debs Park, its natural features will be highlighted. At the Griffin Avenue entrance to the park, visitors will be welcomed by hand-crafted gates that are draped with twining, wrought-iron garlands representing the park's plants and life-sized representations of some of the park's significant animal inhabitants.

The entry drive follows the alignment of the existing fire road up the hillside into the park. A drift of native Coastal Live Oaks leads to the Audubon Center's parking lot. Drifts of oaks shade the lot, and a grove of oaks and walnuts is featured at the center of the passenger drop-off area.

The Center's entry courtyard features a recirculating, solar-powered fountain, benches, and two Western Sycamores, trees that grow along waterways and are especially important habitat for native fauna, particularly birds.

Interior courtyard

The focal point of the interior courtyard is a fountain, which will serve as a drinking and bathing respite for wildlife. Western Sycamores provide shade during the warm months of the year, and California Grape (Vitus californica) is planted to shade the pergola. A trellised blind offers a quiet vantage point for observing wildlife.

Understory plantings in the courtyard include California Wood Fern (Dryopteris arguta), Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana, Coyote Mint (Monardella villosa), Coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), and Coralbells (Huechera).

Children's Garden

The Children's Garden offers and introduction to the natural history of Debs Park. It is set apart from the natural landscape by a hedge of native shrubs, and is characterized by distinctive, dramatic plantings that highlight the change of seasons. A sustainably certified wooden tower in the garden affords views of wildlife, garden features, the Audubon Center, and beyond. A sustainably certified wooden bridge offers views down into the riparian and oak sycamore communities below. From here, paths lead through tunnels of chaparral into the meadows beyond. A gravel and river-washed rock Riparian Path follows the usually dry streambed through the garden. The watercourse meanders as it etches deeper into the plateau to create a ravine. This ravine includes a grotto to give pint-sized visitors a view of aquatic life in the shallow pools.

While the Center's courtyards and Children's Garden are primarily planted with species found in Debs Park, they also include a few species that are indigenous in the larger region. These are included in order to demonstrate plants that thrive in urban/suburban settings yet still provide native habitat benefit, particularly for wildlife. For example, selections of the natural hummingbird feeder California Fuchsia (Epilobium)—found in the Santa Monica Mountains—have been included. We hope to encourage visitors to plant natives in their home gardens to increase wildlife habitat in the region and to conserve resources like water.

Interpretive trail system

Visitors will be immersed in all four distinct biomes of Debs Park when they travel along the interpretive trail system. The Coastal Sage Scrub trail takes visitors past swaths of the fragrant blue-gray California Sagebrush, while the Oak Sycamore Woodland trail winds through groves and drifts of California Black Walnuts. The native walnuts are signature trees of the Audubon Center, providing habitat for many animals. The Walnut Savannah and Riparian trails take visitors through and along the Children's Garden. Each trail seeks to intensify the experience of the specific biome and its materials, inhabitants, and systems.

Lot size: 17 acres

Sensitive habitat

Water Conservation and Use

Indoor potable water use: 70,700 gal/yr (268,000 liters/yr)

Outdoor potable water use: 18,000 gal/yr (68,100 liters/yr)

Total potable water use: 88,700 gal/yr (336,000 liters/yr)

Potable water use per unit area: 17.7 gal/sq ft (720 liters/sq meter)

Green Strategies

Development Impacts

Minimize development impact area

Ecosystem Restoration

Replant damaged sites with native vegetation

Non-water-using Fixtures

Specify waterless urinals

Water Conservation Education

Educate residents about water conservation

Landscape Plantings

Landscape with indigenous vegetation

Minimize turf area

Low-Water-Use Fixtures

Use low-flow toilets

Wastewater and Graywater Recycling

Design buildings to use treated wastewater for non-potable uses

Plumb building to accommodate graywater separation

Integration with Site Resources

Celebrate and enhance existing landscape features 

材料选择: The building's exterior uses:

Steel rebar: 97% recycled, including content from melted down guns (traded in to the City of Los Angeles), old cars, and used oil filters;

Cast-in-place concrete: Contains 25% flyash;

Concrete masonry units: Grout contains 25-50% flyash;

Windows: High-performance, low-e coated, double-glazed, and protected by overhangs and trellises to reduce heat gain in summer while providing excellent natural daylighting throughout the building;

Wood: Plywood, Redwood, and Douglas Fir members for pergolas were certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) to be from sustainably managed forests.

Green Products Used

Certified Redwood Lumber

Energy-Efficient Refrigerators

Fabric, Cork, and Burlap Panels

Natural Linoleum Flooring

Natural-Fiber Carpet

Non-PVC, Solar-Reflective, Thermoplastic Membrane Roofing

Photovoltaic Collectors

Recycled-Content Prefinished Biocomposite Panel

Recycled-Content Synthetic-Gypsum Board

Recycled-Wood Fiberboard and Particleboard

Green Strategies

Design for Materials Use Reduction

Enhance existing features in landscaping

Consider the use of structural materials that do not require application of finish layers

Consider exposing structural materials as finished surfaces

Recycling by Occupants

Specify recycling receptacles that are accessible to the occupants

Toxic Upstream or Downstream Burdens

Use true linoleum flooring

Specify natural fiber carpets

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Manufacture

Use concrete masonry units with flyash replacing a portion of the cement

Replace up to 30% of the cement in concrete with flyash

Materials and Wildlife Habitat

Use wood products from independently certified, well-managed forests for finish carpentry

Transportation of Materials

Prefer materials that are sourced and manufactured within the local area 

室内环境品质: Indoor Environment

The L-shaped building is relatively narrow, allowing light to penetrate throughout the facility. The south and east orientation of the building and well placed operable windows increase cross-ventilation, natural lighting in all directions, and views of the outdoors.

All adhesives, sealants, paints, and carpets were selected for their low content or lack of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Green Strategies

Visual Comfort and Interior Design

Select only white to midrange finishes to maximize reflectance of light

Facility Policies for IEQ

Recommend a non-smoking policy for the building 

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