Green Mountain Club
When the historic Green Mountain Club hiker center barn in Waterbury Center, VT burned in January of 2003, the club saw an opportunity to both re-build the barn as an improved meeting space and provide the long overdue upgrades to the staff spaces, retail space and an interactive hiker center that could be used as an educational space to further the club’s mission.
The Headquarters planning committee, led by chair Jeff Schoellkopf of The Design Group, set forth to develop a design program, goals and design team for the building. Milford Cushman and Chad Forcier (of the Cushman Design Group, Inc.) were among the active participants on this volunteer committee during this effort. Pete Antos-Ketcham served as the club staff representative on this committee. His commitment to a healthy building and resource conservation was a constant source of guidance and support throughout the design process.
The outcome of this process was a building that was both environmentally conscious and completely unique. Among the incorporated features are:
- Day lighting to maximize use of natural light and passive solar gain
- Timber frame, floor framing, wall finishes (where possible) and wall sheathing all local, sustainably harvested wood to minimize use of glues and adhesives
- Super-insulated building envelope- using wood cellulose where possible
- Tightly sealed building envelope
- Triple pane high-R fiberglass windows
- Interior finishes with low volatile organic compounds
- Building heat and hot water generated by a high efficiency wood gasification boiler, allowing the club to utilize their existing land resource to heat the building with a carbon neutral source
- Air conditioning using an economizer when possible
- Heat recovery ventilation for environmentally responsible fresh air
- Low flow plumbing fixtures and three new composting toilets
- Photovoltaic panels for part of the electrical load with the service ready to accommodate panels for the whole load
- Occupancy sensors and super high efficiency lighting
During the three years of the design and construction phases of this project, The Cushman Design Group Inc. collaborated with Architect of Record, Jeff Schoellkopf to coordinate the efforts of the team of professionals who contributed on the project: L.N. Consulting Engineers (Mechanical and Electrical engineering), Engineering Ventures (Structural Engineering), Little River Survey (Civil Engineering), Energy Balance and Efficiency VT (Energy and Systems consulting), Donna Leban (Lighting consultant), Tamara Marteney (Architect), Construction Manager J.A. Morrissey, Doug White (Project Manager) and Steve Elder (Project Superintendent).