Five Rivers Environmental Education Center: A Model for Green Building

The Five Rivers Environmental Education Center (Albany County, NY), operated by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, is a living museum comprising over 450 acres of fields, forests, and wetlands. Built in 2017, the Five Rivers visitors center invites visitors to explore local fields, ponds, forests, birds, and history through interactive displays and exhibits.

The visitors center building is notable for its eco-friendly and bird-friendly design strategies, which include GlasPro Bird Safe Ultraviolet Reflective glass. GlasPro delivered 8mm (5/16 in.), annealed, laminated bird-friendly glass to customer Marvin Windows & Doors to install in their window sashes for Five Rivers. The result is a stunning display of glass with bird-friendly features that are transparent to the human eye.

Other green features of the center include green building materials, wood harvested from onsite trees, green roof, solar photovoltaic system, geothermal heating/cooling system, operable windows and roof vents, low flow toilets, LED lighting and motion detection capabilities, and rain water collection and gray water system. The project design is LEED platinum certified.