James Learning Center

Prescott, Arizona

The James Learning Center is Prescott, Arizona’s first LEED Certified Building, and the first building in Yavapai County to achieve Gold certification. The 80 acre site was provided to the Highlands Center as a long term lease from the Prescott National Forest. A south facing interior stone wall, built from rock harvested on site, stores solar heat during the cold winter months, warming the building and stabilizing indoor temperatures. Reflective light shelves north and south help bounce additional daylight into the interior of the building. The center is an excellent example of how a building can blend in with its surrounding environment. It has many common-sense green building features incorporated into its design, such as structural timbers harvested from the surrounding forest and walls made of local natural stone.

Sustainable Strategies

• Passive solar design

• Natural daylight and ventilation

• Directionally appropriate glazing

• 7kW photovoltaic system, which has been designed to provide 100% of the building’s electrical needs

• Water-saving plumbing fixtures

• Native plant selection

• Non-toxic materials & finishes

• Butterfly roof design provides rainwater catchment for landscape irrigation

• Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment

• Rock weirs to slow runoff, control sedimentation, and encourage aquifer recharge

Project Results

• LEED for New Construction GOLD level achieved

• 66% energy cost savings above ASHRAE 90.1-1999 energy standard

• 100% wastewater treated on-site

• 24% savings of potable water for domestic uses

• 31% of building materials extracted or harvested within a 500 mile radius