NASA Sustainability Base

Sustainability Base, NASA’s new facility at the entrance to Ames Research Center, is designed to showcase NASA’s culture of innovation. The client charged the team with delivering a facility that embodies NASA’s spirit, fosters collaboration, supports health and well-being, and goes beyond LEED® Platinum in its pursuit of Cradle to Cradle solutions.

As design architect, WM+P led an intensive fast-track effort. The three-month concept and schematic design phase incorporated significant analysis of each scheme to test, and later tune, building performance against project goals. One result of this integrated dialog was an innovative approach to building structure. The exoskeleton approach offers increased structural performance during seismic events, provides an armature for daylighting and shading strategies, and creates a column-free interior that facilitates workplace flexibility. It also becomes the icon for the building, recalling lunar modules and satellites. Other project innovations range from aggressive daylighting and natural ventilation design to in-depth materials screening. The resulting building is a flexible workplace filled with glare-free daylight, fresh air and abundant connections to the outdoors, serviced by systems that, in time, will use only renewable energy and will maintain water in closed loops.