Southwest Missouri Says Hello to LEED

In addition to its exhibit halls and programming space, the building itself serves as an educational tool for green design.

by Meaghan O'Neill -- Interior Design, 9/26/2006

When the Discovery Center of Springfield opened its new 30,000-square-foot building earlier this month, it became southwest Missouri’s first high-performance, sustainable building. Adjacent to the museum’s existing 25,000-square-foot facility, the new addition will be the first LEED-certified building in the region, likely touting Gold certification.

Besides housing exhibit halls, classrooms, offices, and a theater, the addition to the hands-on, interactive science center is itself meant to serve as an educational tool for sustainable design, by demonstrating the advantages of sustainable building and showing people they can make a difference in their own homes.

To earn sustainability credentials, the building features a saw-tooth pattern in the back, with windows that maximize natural light and minimize solar gain, dramatically cutting energy consumption. Other green features include solar panels that provide about five percent of the structure’s electricity (a digital readout allows visitors to track the amount of energy generated), a lower-level green roof, a gray-water collection and reuse system, and pervious concrete surfaces. Additionally, the addition began as an existing structure that was deconstructed, with building products removed for re-use in this and other projects. Locally-produced and recycled materials, as well as low-emitting paints, adhesives, and sealants, and sustainably-harvested wood were used throughout.

The museum’s existing 25,000-square-foot facility also was renovated to add new exhibit galleries.