Jet Propulsion Laboratory will break ground on its first “green” building Monday, Pasadena Star-News reports.
The Flight Projects Center, a seven-story, 194,602-square-foot, $63million project expected to be completed in 2009, will feature offices, an auditorium, a fitness center and conference rooms.
Plenty of light will come in through all angles of the building, and environmentally-friendly materials will be used to build the center, said Mark Gutheinz, JPL manager of facilities, engineering and construction.
Bicycle racks and showers will allow people to ride to work.
“We have a lot of very old buildings and trailers that are very inefficient,” he said. “This will displace some of the older buildings.”
The building will serve as a “hotel” for projects. A project group will move into the building for a specific length of time, then move out to complete the final phases of the project, such as testing and flight, Gutheinz said.
This is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building at JPL, Gutheinz said. JPL is striving to reach the LEED Gold certification level, which would be the first in NASA’s inventory, he said.
