Error

• Error loading feed data.

Audubon Center at Debs Park Photo credit: Gary Leonard Overview • Location: Los Angeles, CA • Building type(s): Interpretive Center, Recreation, Park • New construction • 5,020 sq. feet (467 sq. meters) • Project scope: a single building • Urban setting • Completed November 2003 • Rating: U.S. Green Building Council LEED-NC, v.2/v.2.1--Level: Platinum (53 points) Located just ten minutes northeast of downtown Los Angeles, Ernest E. Debs Regional Park is a 282-acre urban wilderness owned by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The Audubon Center at Debs Park occupies 17 acres of the park, leased from the City. 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. Environmental Aspects The Audubon Center at Debs Park is the National Audubon Society's first nature center in California to be constructed from the ground up using environmentally sensitive design techniques. It is also the first building in the U.S. to achieve a Platinum rating under version 2 of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(R)) Rating System. The Center is operated entirely off-grid, using only power generated on site. It is expected to use only 25,000 kWh of energy each year (around five kWh per square foot). The Center is designed to use 70% less water than a comparable conventional building, and to treat all wastewater on site. More than 50% of the building materials were manufactured locally, and more than 97% of construction debris was recycled. The National Audubon Society plans to build a thousand urban facilities around the country by 2020. Owner & Occupancy • Owned and occupied by The National Audubon Society, Corporation, nonprofit • Typically occupied by 8 people, 40 hours per person per week Building Programs Indoor Spaces:  Retail general, Lobby/reception, Other, Classroom, Restrooms, Circulation, Office Outdoor Spaces:  Wildlife habitat, Parking, Drives/roadway, Pedestrian/non-motorized vehicle path, Interpretive landscape, Restored landscape