Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Bosarge Family Education Center
Boothbay, Maine

LEED Platinum Certified and Targeting Net Zero Energy

Project Summary
Occupancy: Education Center
Building Area: 8,000 square feet
Status: Completed July 2011
Architect: Maclay Architects, Scott Simons Architects
Key Project Team Members:  Allied Engineering, Energy Balance, Inc., Bensonwood, HP Cummings

Fore Solutions assisted Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (CMBG) in the development of the new net zero, LEED Platinum Bosarge Family Education Center on their growing campus in Boothbay, Maine. This project provides an important addition to CMBG’s environmental programming and has expanded the Gardens’ public image. CMBG is dedicated to environmental stewardship and wanted to create an exemplary icon of sustainability for the northeast region and the nation. The Education Center is a high performance, cutting-edge structure that sets the highest example of what is possible in sustainable building design.

This new 8,000 square foot facility is located adjacent to the Children’s Garden. Purposefully, this building is very public and very accessible. A visit to the Gardens will offer thousands of visitors the opportunity to view important energy saving and environmentally friendly features. In addition to housing administrative offices for staff, the building itself is a teaching tool with tours, interpretive signage, programs and classes focused on its details. It clearly communicates to visitors that conserving resources and energy results in environmentally positive benefits.

As the Owner’s Sustainability Representative, Fore Solutions assisted CMBG in creating a project process designed for success by facilitating several visioning and schematic design charrettes with the gardens’ staff, board of directors and design team to arrive at practical, yet innovative solutions that achieved the project’s sustainability goals of LEED Platinum Certification. In addition to assisting the owner in managing the design process and hiring the architectural team, Fore Solutions also took the lead on developing a comprehensive approach to education which includes a truth wall, educational display signage, posters and a live dashboard with real time energy and water metering data available for viewing onsite and online.
 

Additional Project Information
Facts About the Bosarge Family Education Center
USGBC Maine Chapter Project Profile
Building Data Dashboard

 

In the News
MaineBiz 6.27.11
Portland Press Herald 7.10.11
Portland Press Herald 7.14.11
Maine Development Foundation 7.14.11
Maine Public Broadcasting Network 7.14.11
Good Day Maine 7.15.11
WGEM.com 7.15.11
Boston.com 7.16.11
TheStreet.com 7.16.11
YouTube

 

 

Project Images