Rep. Anthony Weiner (2nd from l.) cuts ribbon on visitor center for Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last week. At Weiner's l., refuge official Barry Sullivan, and to his r., a local high school teacher.This building is designed to welcome people to the natural world and be friendly to it, too.
A new $3.3 million visitor center for the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge opened last week after more than five years of design and construction.
"As a society, we're taking our toll on Mother Nature. We are creating changes in our environment that have not been seen in the history of recorded time," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn and Queens), who got the funding for the new center. "And we need to start doing something about it."
Once certified, the building will be the first in the National Park Service's Northeast Region to meet a stringent standard for green buildings known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, said Carol Whipple, the project manager.
The 10,000 acres of the wildlife refuge provides an important stopover for migratory birds. In all, more than 330 species of birds call it home.
The new visitor center features innovations such as rooftop solar panels and geothermal heating. But for the most part, it isn't exotic technology that makes it so green, said architect Richard Southwick of Beyer Blinder Belle.
"It's really age-old traditional architecture," he said. "These are things that have been used around the world for thousands and thousands of years."
The lighting is 90% natural.
On a warm summer day, the breeze from open windows pulled upward by a wind turbine on the roof keeps the central hall plenty cool without air conditioning.
The building also maximizes the sun's rays in winter, including windows aligned for the sun's winter path and its warmth collected in a dark, heat-retaining floor.
"We did a solar study to see where the sun passed. We did a cardboard model with lights," Whipple said.
Additionally, all the materials came from within 500 miles, including recycled redwood siding and easily renewable materials such as the bamboo and cork floors and the natural-fiber cabinets.
They also reused the old concrete structure on the site. The urinals are waterless, and the landscaping outside relies on native plants.
The local wildlife also seemed at home at the new visitor center. During the opening ceremonies, an egret, ibis, tree swallow and osprey put in appearances.
