Manifesting Potential

Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center is a visionary nature preserve owned by Goshen College through gifts from individuals in co-operation with the Nature Conservancy. Serving as a beacon for other wildlife sanctuaries, Merry Lea’s mission is to provide public environmental education, support private field-based habitat studies, and to remain sensitive in every respect to Indiana’s undisturbed ecosystems.

In line with its mission to protect Pennsylvania’s air, land and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) engaged 7group to provide high performance integrative design and commissioning services, as well as LEED consulting and documentation, for the design and construction of this extremely economical office building located in California, Pennsylvania.

The vision of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) Library to fulfill their role as stewards of the environment, minimizing impacts on the earth and restoring the land as much as possible, is clearly reflected in the Library's design. Encouraging discovery and advancing knowledge in harmony with the environment, the AMBS Library is the first LEED certified library in Indiana, and includes a gallery space and bookstore.

Setting a precedent as the first hotel in the U.S. to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the AAA Four Diamond rated Proximity Hotel and adjacent restaurant, Print Works Bistro, are committed to upholding sustainable practices without sacrificing the comfort of their guests. While sustainability was not initially a project goal, the CEO and Chief Design Officer Dennis Quaintance found making design decisions for long-term value and practicality led the project team toward a decidedly sustainable approach.

As a premier environmental educational center, the Benjamin Olewine III Nature Center integrates building design and function with nature. The center is nestled within Wildwood Park in central Pennsylvania, where the Friends of Wildwood, along with the Dauphin County Department of Parks and Recreation, set out to build an educational nature center with minimal environmental footprint. The site previously was a dumping area, but after the discovery of the rare American Lotus on the park grounds in the 1980s, preservation efforts were fully adopted. Though the nature center was built before the inception of LEED, the project team was committed to designing an environmentally sound building that captured the natural beauty of the wetlands area.

The Isaac Ray Treatment Center (IRTC) was Indiana’s first building to become LEED Silver certified, and the first government sector healthcare facility in the U.S. to receive this certification. As one of the most recent additions to the long-standing Logansport State Hospital, IRTC focuses on high-risk patients as the first mental health facility of its kind to specialize in therapeutic healing. Its approximately 20 acre site addresses the safety and security of patients, staff and visitors while encouraging healing through recreation in its carefully designed outdoor environment.

To accommodate a growing community and increasing student body, the Nazareth Area School District set out to develop a new middle school through a decidedly holistic integrative approach. Chosen for optimum community impact, the new facility’s location creates a “campus” relationship with the existing adjacent high school allowing convenient community access to both schools’ resources and reduces bus traffic.

This centrally located, community-based, high performance K-5 school enhances and embodies curriculum as a “living textbook” for its 550 students and the community. A number of unique outdoor elements such as a rooftop science lab and an amphitheater invite learning, and community-oriented features include a parenting and tutoring center, inter-generational tutoring services and an adjacent renovated warehouse serving as an early childhood center.

As the first LEED Gold certified public school in New Jersey, Summerfield Elementary takes a hands on approach to teaching and fostering an understanding of sustainable practices with students and the community. With an emphasis on Live Event Learning and indoor/ outdoor connections with the classroom, Summerfield utilizes the surrounding property’s 22 acres of wetlands, streams and nature trails as part of the curriculum. In redeveloping the Neptune Township site, the project team worked to revive the existing brownfield, planting local vegetation and implementing bio swales.