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The National Park Service has initiated construction on the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center, a research facility that will support the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI), an initiative to document all life forms in the 500,000-acre park. The architectural firm of Lord, Aeck, & Sargent designed Twin Creeks as a high-performance, sustainable laboratory that emphasizes flexibility in order to accommodate changing research activities and foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers - taxonomists, biologist, botanist, and ecologists from the National Park Service and other partners including government agencies, universities, and museums. In addition to research laboratories, the 15,000-gsf facility will house offices for researchers, curatorial space for ATBI specimens, and teaching space for students at a variety of levels. Construction of the $4.4-million center should be completed in fall 2006.

Targeted to attain LEED™ certification, the facility will feature integrated daylight harvesting; natural storm water management; high-efficiency lighting with occupancy and daylight controls; natural ventilation; high recycled content building materials; site harvested stone masonry; low-emitting finishes; waterless urinals; and an electrical vehicle charging station. Whole building efficiency was optimized through the use of parametric thermal analysis of the facility's performance. The project team includes Atlanta-based firms Newcomb & Boyd as MEP/FP engineer and Hedges Construction as general contractor.