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Girl Scouts Urban Camp - Dayton, Ohio

Cope Environmental Center & the Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, advocacy tool, and certification program defining today’s most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment.

Living Buildings are:

regenerative buildings that connect occupants to light, air, food, nature and community

self-sufficient and remain within the resource limits of their site

create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them

The circulation spine along the south side of the building extends into an overhang that was sized to allow the warmth of the low winter sun to hit the concrete slab that houses tubing for the radiant heating system. During the summer, that same overhang shades the interior spaces from additional heat while the radiant system provides cooling.

Space conditioning is provided by a ground-source heat pump looped through an exposed concrete slab that provides radiant heating and cooling. The latter requires tight control of humidity to ensure there is no condensation on the cool floors during the humid Indiana summers.

In addition, over 100% of the building’s energy needs come from the ground-mounted solar panels north of the building.

The Sustainable Education Center was the 29th building in the world to receive Living Building Challenge certification when it opened in 2021.

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