Ecosa Institute Living Building Gets Green Light

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - Jan. 4, 2017 - PRLog -- Ecosa Institute's proposal to build an ecological design school has been unanimously approved by the the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors today. This comes on the heels of the county's Planning and Zoning commissioners' decision a month earlier to allow four stories and decrease in number of required parking spaces.

This milestone arrived two years after receiving a generous donation which enabled the purchase of 69 acres in the Granite Dells and mandated that the unique geographical formations be set aside as a natural preserve. To fulfill this objective, Ecosa plans to build an education center for students and researchers, but also accommodate nature advocates and hikers through its programs.

Ecosa Founder Tony Brown says the intention of this project will not only be to "enhance the ecology of the Dells, but will also provide valuable research data and be a signature building for design with nature."

The Living Building project will occupy only land already damaged by past construction with a footprint limited to three percent of Ecosa's land, or less than two acres. Preliminary designs include restoring habitats for native species. Two examples involve clothing the exterior of the building with plants and providing hollows for cliff swallows to build mud nests and designing roof structures where bat habitats enable guano to fertilize plant boxes below.

The planned four-story education center is expected to contain studio, study and living space with a library, classrooms and computer lab, as well as offices, a kitchen and dining area and EV charging station.

About ECOSA Institute

Since 2000, young professionals and promising design students have taken part in one-of-a-kind programs showing what it means to integrate human aspirations and nature's systems with the help of the greatest designer of all - nature. The backdrop for this program is Prescott, Arizona, a central Arizona mountain town surrounded by diverse landscapes and ecosystems. The program's original goal of bringing innovative ecological design thinking and an interdisciplinary approach to design education has not changed, yet Founder Tony Brown manages to keep the program on the cutting edge of ecological design thinking. Currently Ecosa offers both a four-month semester Ecological Design Certificate and a 10-day Sustainable Southwest Road Trip. To learn more, visit the website at ecosa.org.

See the Granite Dells page at http://www.ecosa.org/about/granite-dells-student-educatio...