• Fernald Visitors Center

glaserworks has transformed an existing steel warehouse into a visitors' center for the Fernald Preserve.

The one thousand acre site, once used as a uranium processing facility, has been turned over the last two decades into a nature preserve consisting of wetlands, prairies and forests.

The $3 million, 10,800 square foot Visitors Center is a model of energy efficiency and environmental building practices. Among its key features are a geothermal based heat pump system; high-efficiency electrical, water and plumbing fixtures; window placements that optimize sunlight in all seasons; low-emitting building materials; and a bio-wetland that will process all the building's wastewater. The team's goal was to include at least 10 percent building materials from recycled sources and at least 20 percent sourced from less than 500 miles away. The team more than doubled those amounts to 23 percent recycled material content and 43 percent locally sourced materials. The history exhibits use sustainable products and materials.

The Visitors' Center contains a community meeting room, offices, and an exhibition that paints a picture of the Cold War Era. The axis that slices through the building aligns with the sunrise of the solstice.

The Visitors' Center is a design/build project on which glaserworks collaborated with Megen Construction.

Conceptual building design, sustainable strategies, and exhibit design by a team of faculty at the University of Cincinnati's School of Architecture and Interior Design, led by John E. Hancock, Ericka Hedgecock, and Virginia Russell.

On October 16, 2008, the Department of Energy accepted the project's certification of LEED Platinum making it the first LEED Platinum certified project in the state of Ohio.

Sustainable Features:

-site selection

-brownfield redevelopment

-stormwater management

-alternative transportation

-site development: protect or restore habitat

-heat island effect:roof

-light pollution reduction

-optimize energy performance

-green power

-water efficient landscaping

-water use reduction

-building reuse

-recycled content

-regional materials

-low-emitting materials

-thermal comfort

-indoor chemical & pollutant source control