Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center

The Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center will inspire a new generation of environmental stewards, sharing a deeper understanding of how nature and energy are connected, their complicated history, and their mutually beneficial potential. As a net-zero building that meets the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s objectives almost thirty years before its targets, the building itself, as well as its real-time energy performance, will be prominently displayed as part of the permanent exhibition. The building’s linear footprint emerges from the reuse of foundations belonging to a Robert Moses-era bathhouse, extended on two sides with additional piles. At 320 feet in length, the new one-story building has been designed as a “chalet for all”, continuing the public legacy of the site. Organized around a series of interior volumes housing offices, support spaces, and classrooms, a continuous sequence of exhibition spaces flows outwards to a shaded exterior perimeter deck, and onwards to the site at large. The building’s distinctive wave-like form, signaling the sloping ceilings of the gallery spaces within, conveys waves in both energy and nature. 9.5 acres of Moses-era concrete surface parking have been demolished, to be reused as a subbase under the building, new roads, and a new immersive landscape. Envisioned as a dune restoration project using native species, the landscape will also perform as an armature for an outdoor interpretive exhibition.