This tour is of a truly unique building: the Cafritz Environmental Education Center, one of only 13 buildings worldwide to achieve full Living Building Challenge™ certification.  As such, the Center is one of the greenest buildings in the world. To meet the Living Building Challenge, a structure must operate for a full year to prove that it functions with net-zero energy and net-zero water in addition to being carbon neutral, use construction materials that are non-toxic and non-polluting, and achieve other environmental and social criteria.

The Center, operated by the Alice Ferguson Foundation, is an extension of the natural beauty and landscape of Piscataway National Park in Accokeek, Maryland. Maximizing the use of natural light through clerestory and other windows, the Center is designed to be “sailed” by occupants to take advantage of daylight, breezes, views and indoor-outdoor flow. The building offers many innovative design and conservation features.

After the tour of the Center, attendees will be able to join other AIAPV members, who will be gathering for happy hour at the Portum Lounge from 5:30 to 7:00pm in Oxon Hill, Maryland. The Portum Lounge is located inside the Harborside Hotel, on the periphery of National Harbor (6400 Oxon Hill Road). Join fellow members of the AIAPV community for an extended cocktail hour and the opportunity to network and relax with your peers.

Space is limited to the first 15 persons who register.

Learning Objectives

1. To expose architects and design professionals to design concepts and styles that allow buildings to blend with their surroundings, create indoor and outdoor usable spaces and flow, and serve multiple functions.
2. By being exposed to a successfully completed project that has achieved the Living Building Challenge™ certification, attendees will learn design techniques that will result in a healthier and safer ecosystem, i.e., sourcing water from rainfall, maximizing
3. Attendees will learn state-of-the-art design and construction techniques for achieving net-zero energy, net-zero water, and carbon-neutral facilities that will regenerate and not deplete their surroundings.
4. Attendees will learn how a sensitively designed facility can contribute to the emotional, psychological, and physical well-being of occupants and users by incorporating the beauty and flow of nature into the indoor space.
5. Attendees will learn how the purpose and mission of an organization’s home can be conveyed by design features that reflect these same values and the sense of the community they serve.

1.5 LU/HSW

Presenter: Karen Jensen Miles, Alice Ferguson Foundation Project Liaison for Potomac Watershed Study Center

Special Thanks to our Premier Sponsor!

Thanks also to our Social Event Annual Partner of AIA Potomac Valley