Gwinnett Heritage Center, Sustainable Design with URE
In the last fifty years, technology has transformed the world. It has enabled us to live longer, instantaneously communicate with each other across the planet and explore the tiniest bits of our world and the furthest regions of our solar system. We are only now beginning to recognize that this dizzying speed of technological advancement – resulting in exponential population growth and an insatiable appetite for energy – has impacted the natural world. In response to this recognition, markets have created a demand for technological innovation to reduce culture’s impact on the natural world. The Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center will usher in the new year with “The Technology of Sustainable Design”, an exhibition about new developments in sustainable design that features the work of Atlanta-based firm Houser Walker Architecture, Timmons Design Engineers, United Renewable Energy and Suniva, a world leader in solar cells. The exhibition will run from January 9 to February 27.
“The Technology of Sustainable Design” will explore how technological innovations are changing the way that our built environment is conceived and constructed. Drawing on examples of designs by Houser Walker Architecture and Timmons Design Engineers, a solar demonstration from United Renewable Energy, as well as materials from Suniva, the exhibition will consider available and emerging technologies that can be incorporated into building design, such as energy efficient lighting or solar panels, but also explore new applications for evaluating the performance of buildings.
The exhibition will also demonstrate how Suniva’s high-efficiency silicon photovoltaic cells have resulted in clean, earth-friendly power generation that architects can incorporate into their designs, and how through the use of predictive modeling and evaluation Timmons can improve a building’s energy performance. “The Technology of Sustainable Design” will show how architects integrate these building and evaluative technologies into a holistic vision that is beautiful, functional, and low impact.
The Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center is an ideal location for an exhibition of this scope. Since the Center opened in 2006, it has strived to be “an exemplary, high-tech cultural center known for hands-on science exhibits and quality educational programming that inspires visitors to become better stewards of our environment.” The 59,000 square-foot science and cultural center nestled on 233 pristine acres is also Gwinnett County’s first “green” building.
“As our natural resources become more utilized to sustain our population growth it is critical to understand the impacts on the management of these limited resources. We must continually learn and teach that sustainability by design is about balance. Balance between man and the earth’s natural resources are necessary to sustain a modern culture. This exhibit is a great learning and teaching tool that demonstrates the knowledge, art, and the innovative opportunities of sustainable design. If we fail to understand this critical mission then we will fail as a nation of people than can make a difference in the quality of life and survival of future generations that will inherit our cities and our short comings” Steve Cannon, Executive Director of the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center.
For more information about “The Technology of Sustainable Design” exhibition, please contact Catherine Long at (770) 904-3500 or email Catherine.Long@gwinnettcounty.com