University of Minnesota Itasca Biological Station

The University of Minnesota sought to meet the challenge of creating a new campus center for its 100-year-old Itasca Biological Field Station and Laboratories, which would approach net zero energy consumption.

Located within Minnesota’s oldest state park and at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, the new campus center contains three labs, an auditorium, and a library space. The design breaks the form of the building into three gable-roofed parts to match the scale of the existing campus buildings. Conservation strategies dramatically reduce energy needs, and a geothermal system and photovoltaic solar array on the roof offset energy used by the building with a goal of approaching net zero energy.