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U.S. Green Building Council awarded the French Wing at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests’ Conservation Center a Gold certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) program. Designed by Banwell Architects, the French Wing is the first project in New England to earn this certification. The French Wing is one of only a dozen buildings nationally to receive a Gold certification.
Banwell Architects was first asked to design a new headquarters and Conservation Center for the “Forest Society” in 1979 and has been invited back twice, in 1990 and 1999, to design additions to the complex. The initial project received the National Passive Solar Design Award in 1982, sponsored by the Department of Energy and the American Institute of Architects.
The centerpiece of the “green” design is a two-story atrium lit by skylights and a south-facing clerestory. The building has been recognized for water conservation through odor-free, indoor composting toilets and “gray water” filtering and reuse. “Gray water” is collected, filtered, and pumped to plants in the atrium. The plants both purify the air and continue to treat the water, so no leach field was required on the site.
Fifty-three percent of the forest products in the building are green-certified, with the remainder from local, well-managed forests. The timber frame was constructed from trees cut on the building site using an on-site sawmill for a zero transportation cost. Ninety percent of the construction waste was recycled.
SPNHF French Wing Press Release
LEED Award Background Information
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11,400 square-foot wing
Completion Date: 2001
Construction Cost: $1.25 million
Consultant: Energysmiths, Meriden, N.H.
General Contractor: Bruss Construction, Inc., Bradford, N.H.
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