Photo courtesy of Natalie Kolb (The Reading Eagle)

The Nature Place, a new environmental exploration center, has officially opened its doors through a ribbon cutting ceremony. The LEED Silver facility is a 9,000 SF destination for those who wish to learn and connect with nature through exploration, education, inspiration and conservation. Features of the new center include:

• Trails through educational wetlands and habitats.
• Outdoor classroom for demonstrations such as tree planting.
• Flexible classroom spaces.
• Interactive organic community garden with wild native plants.
• Nature Play Zone, an outdoor play element where children can connect to nature.

You can read more about the facility via the Berks Nature website, linked here.

Henry Adams was the MEP engineer for the project. A unique challenge of the MEP design was maximizing energy and resource efficiency via a cost-effective design in order to achieve LEED Silver certification. The mechanical design included HVAC and associated building controls. The plumbing design included sanitary, vent, and water piping. The electrical design included power, lighting, voice/data empty conduit system, and fire alarm.