Contact: Jeff Scott,
Director, Library Services
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6195
Berkeley Public Library’s West Branch Earns Coveted Gold Nugget Award
Berkeley, CA July 7, 2015—West Branch Library continues to shine with architectural design leaders. Chosen from the elite pool of Merit Award winners, Grand Awards were announced on June 25 as a feature highlight of PCBC®, the nation’s largest regional conference for the real estate development field. Judges for the 2015 Gold Nugget Awards named Berkeley Public Library’s West Branch as a Grand Award winner in its fifty-sixth annual competition, which honors architectural design and planning excellence internationally.
Located at 1125 University Avenue, West Branch Library is the first Net Zero Public Library in California. West Branch Library earned Grand honors for Best Zero Net Energy Design, which honors those who improve communities through exceptional concepts in design, planning and development. Winners this year were chosen from 635 entries from around the world.
After almost 1.5 years in operation, the building is on track to surpass its goal of energy neutrality and is gives more energy back into the utility grid than it uses. Both active and passive strategies were used to achieve these results including solar thermal and photovoltaic panels for heated water and electricity; a wind chimney that draws air through the building without the use of fans and skylights that add light and ventilation.
“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” said Judging Chairman Lisa Parrish. According to the judges, “The West Berkeley Public Library is the first verified public ZNE library (Living Building Challenge V3.0 NZEB- see ZNE_LBI-certificate). Call 510-981-6195 for photos and additional details on Berkeley Public Library’s green and sustainable branches.
Founded in 1893, the Berkeley Public Library has grown from a small reading room with 264 books, into a city-wide system with a five-story Central Library, four state of the art neighborhood branches, a Tool Lending Library and a Library on Wheels. For more information visit www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.
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