• Overview
• News and Events
• The Consortium
• The Forest
• Facilities and Resources
• Green Building and Smart Features
  • Facilities Master Plan
  • Center for Science and Education
  • Forest Lodge
  • Solar Panels
  • Awards
  • Usable Data
• Publications
• School in the Forest

Opened in 2004, the Black Rock Forest Lodge includes most of the green building features of the Center for Science and Education, as well as additional ones, as illustrated in the cross-sectional diagram (pdf) prepared by its architects, FXFOWLE.  The Forest Lodge includes 10 bedrooms that can accommodate up to 60 overnight visitors, a central Commons with space for 140 people for lectures and 65 for dining, a well equipped catering kitchen, and lower-level classroom space. The deck on the south side of the Lodge offers wonderful views of the Forest and surrounding mountains.

In addition to the features in the Center for Science and Education, the Forest Lodge includes:

• “Dense-pack” cellulose insulation with staggered-stud framing in the walls for high-energy performance.
• Bent-rectangle building shape and northwest-southeast orientation along the contour of the ridge to maximize solar exposure and minimize building size, maximize views, and blend into the hillside.
• Carbon dioxide monitoring for the heating and cooling system.
• All “certified sustainable” wood used in framing.
• Concrete with a high proportion of recycled fly ash.
• A “water stone” water fountain carved from a solid block of granite.

Photo courtesy of FXFOWLE