Urban Ecology Center

Project of the Year: Small Projects

The Urban Ecology Center is an environmental community center in Milwaukee's East Side at Riverside Park.

advertisement

The mission of the center is to stabilize, beautify and protect Riverside Park.

But its focus has gradually expanded over the past decade to use the park as a tool in environmental education. More than 10,000 school children from the surrounding neighborhood are educated at the facility.

The facility also offers numerous adult and family programs, such as snowshoeing and canoeing.

Until the construction of the new 20,000-sq.-ft. facility, the center operated from a trailer, which had been located temporarily in the park.

The new building includes classrooms, exhibit areas, research laboratories, animal labs, roof garden and observation tower.

The building design incorporates numerous sustainable design features including day-lighting, reclaimed materials, sustainably harvested wood, recycled-content materials, low volatile organic compounds, photovoltaic power, a grey water system, rain gardens and a thicker-than-usual building envelope for a high insulation value.

Recycling was required by all contractors on the job site, resulting in 75 percent of construction waste being diverted from a landfill. The project began in May 2003 and was completed in July, with a final construction cost of $3,300,000.

Using Reclaimed Materials

Reclaimed materials were used throughout the building, including a gymnasium floor and bleacher seats from a neighborhood school, brick from a demolished factory, slate chalkboards and scrap decking from the Atlantic City, N.J., boardwalk, window sashes and tumbled, recycled glass.

Many of these products were used in unique and interesting new ways other than their original uses, resulting in yet another educational tool within the building.

A goal of diverting all storm water from the sewer system was accomplished through a series of containment methods including rain gardens, rain barrels, a green roof, a grey water system, cisterns, pervious pavement and a pond all on a site that very limited in size.

The grey water system presented particular challenges because its usage is a fairly new technology in Wisconsin.

Plans for it were reviewed and approved by the state, a process that took several months. The system included a working display that will educate visitors on how a grey water system works.

The jury said, "This is a good way to teach people environmental issues.

Making the facility a living laboratory of sustainable design was good planning."