Brock Environmental Center

Last updated
The Brock Environmental Center
Brock Environmental Center.jpg
USA Virginia location map.svg
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Location within Virginia
General information
TypeEnvironmental center and office space
Location Virginia Beach, Virginia
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 36°54′14″N76°05′52″W / 36.9039°N 76.0979°W / 36.9039; -76.0979 (Brock Environmental Center)
Construction started2012
Completed2014
CostUS$21 million [1]
OwnerThe Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Technical details
Floor count1
Floor area10,000 sq ft (930 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s) SmithGroupJJR
Main contractorHourigan Construction

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's (CBF) Brock Environmental Center is located on the banks of the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is designed to meet the highest environmental standards in accordance with The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the Living Building Challenge. Home to CBF's Hampton Roads staff and local conservation group, Lynnhaven River NOW, the Brock Center will benefit the larger public with spaces indoors and out for community and student groups. [2]

Contents

Background

Pleasure House Point

Pleasure House Point is a 118-acre peninsula on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Developers purchased the land and planned to build "Indigo Dunes," a development of more than 1,100 new high-rise condos and townhouses.[ citation needed ] When the housing market collapsed in 2008, the building plans came to a halt, and the bank foreclosed on the property. [3]

In 2012, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation partnered with the City of Virginia Beach, the Trust for Public Land, and the local community to buy Pleasure House Point for $13 million, preserving it for recreation and education. [4]

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation bought a small corner of the property to build the Brock Environmental Center. The building takes its name from Virginia Beach philanthropist Dollar Tree founder Macon Brock and his wife Joan. [1]

Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge is the highest standard of certification for energy efficient, environmentally smart design and construction. The Challenge is composed of seven performance categories called Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty. [5]

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation expects that the center will be LEED-Platinum certified and that it will meet the Living Building Challenge certification. This rare designation means the building has a net-zero impact on the environment even after a full year of operation. [6]

Design and construction

Energy independence

Rooftop photo-voltaic panels produce approximately 60 percent of the Brock Environmental Center’s energy needs. Two residential-scale 10-kilowatt wind turbines provide the additional 40 percent of energy. Geothermal wells are used to take advantage of the earth's constant 54-degree temperature by exchanging heat with a recirculated fluid that is sent down a closed loop located 300 feet below the surface after which the fluid sent back up to the surface to warm the building air in the winter and cool the building air in the summer before sent down the earth again. The treated air is circulate through the building with a high-efficiency HVAC. [6]

As a result of other energy efficient and conservation design elements, the building uses 80% less energy than a typical building its size. [2]

The building is positioned to receive maximum southern exposure for warmth and to receive natural ventilation from the prevailing winds. Exterior walls, floors, and roof insulation are designed to reduce energy demands by maximizing the building’s insulation.[ citation needed ]

Water independence

Two 1,600-gallon (6,056-liter) rain cisterns and a filtering system make the Brock Environmental Center the first project in the United States to receive a commercial permit for drinking filtered rainwater. [7] [8] [9] The commercial permit was given in accordance with the federal drinking water requirements.

The toilets are composting waterless units that turn human waste into usable organic material. Rain gardens will capture and filter extra runoff, and a special graywater garden will cleanse graywater (wastewater generated from sinks and showers). [2]

Materials

To meet the Living Building Challenge, designers did not use any “Red List” materials that include chemicals and materials considered harmful to humans and the environment. Materials and chemicals listed on the Living Building Challenge’s Red List include polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and halogenated flame retardants, among others. [6]

The builders also worked with the community to use reclaimed and salvaged materials such as sinks, doors, mirrors, counters, cabinets, floor boards, used bike racks, student art tables, and old wood paneling. Supplies came from sources throughout the community including old office buildings, school houses, and a local parks department. [10]

Use of building

Education center

The Brock Environmental Center is home base for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s outdoor field education program serving Hampton Roads students and teachers. According to CBF "Our courses combine many academic disciplines – earth science, biology, history, art, English/writing, math, chemistry, civics, economics, government, and responsible citizenship. As a result, students become exceptionally informed and inspired, valuing the bay and its watershed as a living, connected system." [1] Pleasure House Point is an active demonstration site for important and relevant restoration projects, including oyster, wetland, and other habitat restoration, as well as water quality improvement initiatives. [11] By engaging in outdoor educational experiences in natural areas and on waterways, program participants can better understand the Chesapeake Bay. [12]

Community resource

The Brock Center contains a large conference room and smaller meeting spaces available for community meetings, discussions, and collaboration.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menhaden</span> Informal name for some fishes (genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium)

Menhaden, also known as mossbunker,bunker, and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium, two genera of marine fish in the order Clupeiformes. Menhaden is a blend of poghaden and an Algonquian word akin to Narragansett munnawhatteaûg, derived from munnohquohteau, referring to their use of the fish as fertilizer. It is generally thought that Pilgrims were advised by Tisquantum to plant menhaden with their crops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesapeake Bay</span> Estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the state of Delaware. The mouth of the bay at its southern point is located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others surrounding within its watershed. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states and all of Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Beach, Virginia</span> Largest city in Virginia, United States

Virginia Beach, officially the City of Virginia Beach, is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Located on the southeastern coast of Virginia, it is the sixth-most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic and the 43rd-most populous city in the U.S. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach is a principal city in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

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Hampton Roads is the name of a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It also gave its name to the surrounding metropolitan region located in the southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina portions of the Tidewater Region.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Wesleyan University</span> Private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.

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Pembroke Manor is an area in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States located around the intersections of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Independence Boulevard. The community's name comes from Pembroke Manor, a plantation built in 1764. The house was donated by the Aragona family to the Princess Anne Historical Society, However, it is currently under private ownership and operates as Ivy League Academy, a private Christian school catering to children from K4 through 5th grades. It has since been sold and repurposed for another business. The building itself was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 as #70000887 and is considered one of the oldest and most notable structures in the City of Virginia Beach.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynnhaven River</span> River in the United States of America

The Lynnhaven River is a tidal estuary located in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the United States, and flows into the Chesapeake Bay west of Cape Henry at Lynnhaven Inlet, beyond which is Lynnhaven Roads. It has a small, developed watershed covering 64 square miles (170 km2), terminating at Lynnhaven Bay. It was once famous along the East Coast of the United States for its oysters, which declined through pollution and runoff. It is now being restored by the Lynnhaven River Now restoration project based out of the Brock Environmental Center. A proposed comprehensive project for ecosystem restoration of the Lynnhaven River Basin is currently under consideration by the United States Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesapeake Bay Foundation</span> American non-profit organization

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation has field offices in Salisbury, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Town</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living shoreline</span>

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 Komp, Catherine (4 December 2014). "New Model For Green Building Opens In Virginia Beach". Virginia Currents. NPR. WCVE-FM . Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  3. Hixenbaugh, Mike (14 March 2012). "Virginia Beach Deal Preserves A Slice of Nature". Virginian Pilot . Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  4. Forget, Karen (Summer 2012). "Pleasure House Point" (PDF). www.lynnhavenrivernow.org. LynnHaven River Now. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  5. "Living Building Challenge". www.Living-future.org. International Living Future Institute. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Making of a Green Building". www.cbf.org. Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  7. Marks, Josh (7 October 2014). "CBF's Brock Environmental Center Will Soon Be the Most Sustainable Building in Virginia". Inhabitat. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  8. O'Donnell, Megan (8 January 2015). "Creating One of the World's Greenest Buildings". Skanska . Retrieved 16 January 2015.
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  10. Everett, Christy (13 October 2014). "Dumpster Diving to Save the Chesapeake Bay". Huffington Post . Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  11. "Pleasure House Point Natural Area". www.vbgov.com. City of Virginia Beach . Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  12. "Washington-Lee High School's Chesapeake Bay Trip Featured on Green Scene". www.apsva.us. Arlington Public Schools. 24 October 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.