• Studio 3:

• Zoo Education

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

The new thirty-eight thousand square foot, three-story Education Center houses the Zoo's Education and Nocturnal Adventures overnight program, Frischs' Animal Outreach program, a greenhouse that contains both a rain-forest exhibit and a hands-on classroom; and a theater / multi-use room that will be used for lectures, large workshops and fundraising events. Standard high school classrooms and a biology lab are provided for the fifty students attending The Zoo Academy - a collaboration between the Zoo and Cincinnati Public Schools that is now in its twenty-ninth year.

Ten studio classrooms face onto, and are entered from, a central two-story greenhouse "hub" in the form of a truncated-cone. The hub contains a "Discovery Forest" exhibit which features live Central and South American plants and animals, a waterfall, fishponds and a "Shaman's Hut".

The Center is certified LEED Silver. A 20kW photovoltaic array helps reduce reliance on grid-power. Waterless urinals and low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce water consumption. Interior finishes and materials are recyclable, rapidly renewable and low-VOC emitting. Roofing materials are high-emissivity / Energy Star rated. Exterior lighting is dark-sky compliant, interior lighting control is automated. Furnishings are Green-friendly.

Modeling and daylight studies helped determine the optimum slope of the roof for the photovoltaic array, the pitch of greenhouse roof to maximize sunlight in the greenhouse, and the depth of roof overhangs to control daylighting.

In November 2007, the Center received an AIA Cincinnati Design Award.