The Sustainability Treehouse sits at the edge of the Appalachian forest within the 10,600 acres of the Summit Bechtel Reserve. The Summit is the new home for the Boy Scout Jamboree, a High Adventure Base, and a year-round destination for leadership training. In order to create a catalytic project that inspires the Scouts’ movement towards a sustainable future, The Treehouse not only targets the rigorous Living Building Challenge, but was also the first public facility developed at the Summit.
This highly interactive facility serves as an engaging icon of scouting adventure, environmental stewardship and high performance building design. Visitors ascend indoor and outdoor platforms to experience the forest from multiple vantages and engage with educational exhibits that explore the site and ecosystem at the levels of ground, tree canopy and sky. Innovative green building systems—including a 6,450-watt photovoltaic array output, two 4,000-watt wind turbines, and a 1,000-gallon cistern and water cleansing system—combine to yield a net-zero energy and net-zero water facility that touches its site lightly. Overall, the Treehouse captures the wonder of childhood exploration and places environmental education at the forefront of meaningful experiences and camp messages for thousands of annual visitors to take home.
Credits
• Client: Boy Scouts of America
• Developer: Trinity Works
• Design Architect: Mithun
• Executive Architect/Architect of Record : BNIM
• Landscape Architect: Nelson Byrd Woltz
• Structural Engineering : Tipping Mar
• MEP Engineer: Integral Group
• Exhibit Design: Volume, Inc./ Studio Terpeluk
• Lighting Design: Dave Nelson & Associates
• Geotechnical: S&ME
• Code Consultant: FP&C Consultants
• Contractor: Swope Construction
