Toyota, the third-large automaker by unit sales in the U.S., has made a $1 million donation to Yellowstone National Park’s Yellowstone Park Foundation, which will be used to support the development of a more energy efficient Youth Campus.
The Yellowstone Youth Campus, designed by Portland, Ore.-based Hennebery Eddy Architects, will be a home for immersive, youth-oriented programming within the park. The on-campus buildings also aspire to be the first in a national park to achieve Living Building Challenge certification, whose design and construction standards integrate ecology, cultural heritage, stewardship, sustainability, and leadership.
Details about the upgrading of the Youth Campus—such as its total cost, and when construction is expected to start and finish—have yet to be made public. The architect and Toyota deferred questions to the park’s public affairs office, which was unable to provide BD+C with more information about the plans.
Toyota released the news about its donation to align with the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service this year. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill into law on March 1, 1872 that established Yellowstone National Park as the world’s first national park.
What’s known is this: once the design is finalized, the campus’s Youth Conservation Corps, which consists of two buildings, will be razed. New buildings will be far more energy efficient, thanks to high-performance insulation and windows, natural ventilation, and other passive measures. Only nontoxic and low VOC building materials and furnishings will be used.
Solar will provide more than 100% of the campus’s energy needs. All of the water used by the campus will be locally sourced, and wastewater will be treated onsite for reuse.
Once completed, the buildings will serve as the home for two youth programs: Expedition Yellowstone, which brings in grade-school aged kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods for a weeklong residential experience; and Youth Conservation Corps, a month-long immersive summer program for high schoolers. The new facilities— which will include four classrooms, residential buildings, and staff housing—will serve twice the campus’s current student capacity. (The Yellowstone public affairs office could not provide its current student count.)
The Youth Campus will include classrooms and residences, and have room to double its current student enrollment. Image: Hennebery Eddy Architects
“The new Yellowstone Youth Campus is an opportunity to support the conservation principles of the National Park Service, while reinforcing Toyota’s commitment to the environment,” said Toyota Motor North America Environmental General Manager Kevin Butt. “We hope this environmental learning center will inspire and empower future leaders in building a more culturally aware, ecologically responsible and regenerative future.”
Toyota has donated to Yellowstone before, most notably $1 million to the Foundation to help build the new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, which opened in 2010. The carmaker last year collaborated with the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, which is located in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, by donating a set of Camry hybrid car batteries that were integrated into the ranch’s new renewable energy array.
One of the purposes of the Youth Campus is to give young Americans a better appreciation of nature and conservation. Image: Hennebery Eddy Architects.
Related Stories
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, URS, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 25, 2014
Philip Johnson’s 'Tent of Tomorrow' vandalized, damaged with fire
Vandals set fire to a stolen van in the park, which in turn caught the tarp covering the pavilion's 50-year old Terrazzo Map on fire.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.