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This addition to Long Beach’s aquarium is used as a classroom and a teaching exhibit space for multi-generational education on California’s watersheds. The building also serves as a meeting space for community groups, government agencies, and others. Adjacent to the classroom, a shaded outdoor area features five exhibits on watersheds, including an interactive model of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel watersheds. Hands-on exhibits demonstrate practical and environmentally friendly ways in which we can live more sustainably with nature and its resources. The exhibits define a watershed, illustrate the watersheds of San Pedro Bay region, and explore concepts of water supply and use. Surrounding the classroom and outdoor exhibits, native landscaping represents the flora found in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Watersheds and illustrate how native gardens can significantly reduce water use.
Appropriate to the context of the project, Rumsey Engineers’ innovative plumbing system design uses graywater to reduce the use of city municipal water for irrigation and reduces potable water used for sewage conveyance by 100%. Teaming with San Francisco architects EHDD Architecture, Rumsey Engineers also created a deep green, innovative mechanical system design for the project that incorporates several energy and resource-saving design features including: low-flow, solar powered, electronic hand washing faucets; a living roof that functions as a thermal mass; a photovoltaic system; and thermal mass passive heating and cooling.
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