LEED Gold Visitor Center by Raleigh Architect, Frank Harmon

Merchant’s Millpond State Park is in Gatesville North Carolina, where construction is underway for a new visitor center designed by the studio of Frank Harmon, Architect in Raleigh.  This rural swampland in Northeastern North Carolina is of great historical and scientific value, because vast tracts of land in this part of the state have been largely untouched since colonial settlement.  A friend recently recalled, in her nearby home of Bertie County, finding colonial ruins as a child while walking through forests and fields that her family owned.  Merchants Millpond has a great variety of wildlife and diverse and unique ecosystems, as well as much opportunity for outdoor recreation.

All of these draws compelled the State to hire a notable architect to design a sustainable education center that teaches through the architecture of the building.  Views out of the building will allow users to experience every aspect of the environment immediately surrounding the structure.  It contains an auditorium and classroom, and will employ such sustainable practices as solar energy collectors and water heating, rain collectors and irrigation, passive solar design, and geothermal wells.  The structure will aim for LEED Gold certification, and will mark the first instance of a LEED certified building for North Carolina Parks and Recreation.