Golden Gate Park West End Pavilion & Groounds

Currently in design, this new community and environmental education center at the west end of Golden Gate Park will provide brightly daylit meeting and gathering space for visitors to the park. The project goals established by Friends of Recreation and Parks, the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, and Van der Ryn Architects are to embody sustainability in the built environment, to blur the distinction between inside and outside and to create a fully integrated indoor/outdoor teaching environment for the community and for San Francisco schools. Special features include a living roof with flowering sedum plants; an earth berm to protect the site from ocean winds; a concrete floor with built-in radiant heating; Insteel wall system; natural ventilation; and environmentally sound interior finishes.

This building is the pilot project for the city of San Francisco's new Green Building Initiative to demonstrate state of the art green building practices to design and construction professionals and the general public.