Chuchupate Design Arrives

  • The concept designs for the new Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters for the Mt. Pinos District have arrived.

    Image 1 of 3
    The concept designs for the new Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters for the Mt. Pinos District have arrived.

  • This is the site plan and (next) another angle of the concept design for the new $5 million Mt. Pinos District Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters on the current Lockwood Valley site. It will be a LEED certified green building (a program to accelerate global adoption of sustainable green building practices through strategies for better environmental and health performance).

    Image 2 of 3
    This is the site plan and (next) another angle of the concept design for the new $5 million Mt. Pinos District Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters on the current Lockwood Valley site. It will be a LEED certified green building (a program to accelerate global adoption of sustainable green building practices through strategies for better environmental and health performance).

  • This is the site plan (previous) and (above) another angle of the concept design for the new $5 million Mt. Pinos District Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters on the current Lockwood Valley site. It will be a LEED certified green building (a program to accelerate global adoption of sustainable green building practices through strategies for better environmental and health performance).

    Image 3 of 3
    This is the site plan (previous) and (above) another angle of the concept design for the new $5 million Mt. Pinos District Los Padres National Forest Chuchupate headquarters on the current Lockwood Valley site. It will be a LEED certified green building (a program to accelerate global adoption of sustainable green building practices through strategies for better environmental and health performance).

Erik Van Walden sent this first glimpse of the plans for the Los Padres Forest Mt. Pinos District headquarters facility in Lockwood Valley. He included this note: "Here’s the long awaited design concept for the new Chuchupate station. It will be achieving a "gold" LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating, using local stone from the site. Kevin Kaiser out of Pine Mountain will be our project manager and local liaison, representing the awarded company Plant/WRNS Studio."

The architectural designer, WRNS Studio, was among the 2010 Top Ten Green Projects winners of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (COTE) Awards. WRNS won for sustainable architecture and green solutions that integrate architecture, natural systems and technology in their City of Watsonville Water Resources Center design.

—Reported by P. Hedlund

This is part of the September 24, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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