Aldo Leopold Legacy Center
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Kubala-Washatko Architects
The first realized LEED-Platinum project, the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center looked towards traditional methods of contruction and craft in order to create a carbon negative building. While equipped with state of the art solar panels and geothermal heating systems, the building made use of traditional wood frame construction techniques in order to create a simple and efficient building system that maximized use of natural light access and ventilation to minimize the need for energy expensive heating and cooling systems. Lumber was retreived from the site and prepared for construction in an specialized on site shop facility built for the project which removed dependence on industrial lumber and more energy use.
Because of its adaptive use of traditional fabrication and construction techniques as well as adoption and integration of modern technologies, the building is entirely seperate from the grid. The materials used were prepared almost entirely seperate from any architectural material industries, and the building generates its own electricity; a gesture towards the conservationism and simplicity preached by Aldo Leopold, the conservationist the project is named for.
architect.uwaterloo.ca
treehugger.com
bustler.net
aldoleopold.org
landscapemodelling.net
architectmagazine.com