Plastic milk jugs, blue jeans used in construction of ‘zoo school’
by Ryn Gargulinski on Feb. 13, 2008, under Local2-level Conservation Learning Center dedication set Wed.
Vivian VanPeenen, curator of education for the Reid Park Zoo, stands by a viewing area inside a new multipurpose room in the learning center. The flooring, similar to linoleum tile, was made from burlap, wood pulp and linseed oil.
Folks generally visit Reid Park Zoo for the animals, but now they’ll be able to walk away knowing much more about the environment, too.
They’ll learn things such as how the new “zoo school” uses old blue jeans for insulation. Or how it harvests rain water in 2,000-gallon vats. Or how the furniture there was made, in part, from old milk jugs.
These are a few of the eco-friendly things going on at the zoo’s new Lee H. Brown Family Conservation Learning Center, 995 S. Lake Shore Lane.
Gov. Janet Napolitano is scheduled to dedicate the $4 million building at 3 p.m. Wednesday, after more than one year of construction and about eight years of planning.
The building will be open for conservation programs and classes beginning Wednesday, and open to the general public during regular zoo hours once the building’s exhibits are installed in late March or early April.
The Tucson Zoological Society and Reid Park Zoo administration se-cured the grant money for the new “zoo school” in 2000.
“We decided to take up a capital campaign. Reid Park Zoo is a conservation organization,” said Vivian VanPeenen, the zoo’s curator of education. “We need to put our money where our mouth is and really go out with the green concept.”
The 10,000-square-foot, two-story education center replaces the 900-square-foot building that was originally used as an admissions booth in the 1940s.
“It seemed pretty silly to just replace our old tiny little zoo school with a new tiny little zoo school,” VanPeenen said.
More than 40,000 schoolchildren visit the zoo on class trips each year, VanPeenen said. In the new “zoo school,” school kids will get the added bonus of programs geared toward curriculum requirements.
People of all ages are also encouraged to take classes on their own, with registration through the zoo’s Web site at www.tucsonzoo.org.
The building is going for platinum status, the highest certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Certification ranking is based on a point system used by the council, which assesses materials and resources used, indoor environmental quality and innovation plus the design process.
The zoo school, constructed of concrete filled with foam, has minimal openings on the east and west sides for indoor environmental control, thermostats for each employee’s work area, and it has all the environmental bases covered, said architect Kevin Barber of Swaim Associates, which designed the building.
With the solar panels, the new zoo school uses 80 percent less energy than traditionally constructed buildings of the same size, VanPeenen said.
Arizona has only one platinum building so far, Northern Arizona University’s Applied Research and Development building in Flagstaff.
Tucson Unified School District’s Davidson Elementary School, 3950 E. Paradise Falls Drive, achieved basic certification from the council.
The “zoo school” would mark the first platinum building in southern Arizona. The council’s certification should be decided by May or June, after it reviews all the paperwork.
“It was a challenge because we used a lot of different systems and a lot of different materials,” architect Barber said. “When we went through and worked closely, everything kind of fell into place.”
It helped, he said, to work with a green consulting team Green Ideas of Phoenix and a knowledgeable contractor, Tempe’s Adolfson and Peterson Construction.
It also helped that the zoo administration knew what it wanted before workbegan.
“This is the extreme version of a green building,” Barber said.
VanPeenen agreed. “Not only is the building incredibly earth friendly,” she said, “but this way we can interpret that green building message to the rest of the community.”
Sources: Swaim Associates, Reid Park Zoo, Tucson Citizen archives
The new environmentally friendly Lee H. Brown Family Conservation Learning Center, 995 S. Lake Shore Lane, at Reid Park Zoo, will be dedicated Wednesday.
Vivian VanPeenen talks about office partitions made from corn. BELOW: The center's ceiling and wall insulation are made from recycled denim clothes.
VanPeenen stands on simulated wood flooring at the new learning center. The flooring is plastic panels made from recycled milk containers.
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LEE H. BROWN FAMILY CONSERVATION LEARNING CENTER AMENITIES
• Aluminum outdoor shade structure created by local architect Arthur T. Brown and recycled from old Tucson General Hospital
• Solar panels donated by Tucson Electric Power that will power 70 percent of building at optimum sun conditions
• Gray water from sinks and fountains reused to water landscape
• Water for toilets from nearby treatment plant
• Windows that open
• Views of the outdoor and natural daylight in 90 percent of the building’s occupied space
• Outside areas of porous concrete so water seeps back into the ground
• Bamboo fencing made from bamboo harvested from the site before construction
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WHO WAS LEE H. BROWN?
The new “zoo school” building is named the Lee H. Brown Family Conservation Learning Center.
Tucsonan Lee H. Brown was a zoo regular who enjoyed photographing the animals, said curator of education Vivian VanPeenen.
Brown died several years ago, VanPennen said, and his widow, who became a major zoo supporter, donated an undisclosed sum of money for the building in honor of her late husband and his family.
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IF YOU GO
• What: New “zoo school”
• When: Open for classes and programs following dedication ceremony on Wednesday
Open to the public during zoo hours starting in late March or early April. The zoo is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days per week.
• Where: Tucson Lee H. Brown Family Conservation Learning Center, 995 S. Lake Shore Lane
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ON THE WEB
Register for classes online at www.tucsonzoo.org
