Submitted by Fisher Development

The $1.05-million Crissy Field Center, an award-winning environmental education center located in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park, which serves nearly 20,000 youth annually, needed to relocate due to one of the city’s largest public works projects: the rebuilding of the Golden Gate Bridge approach (Doyle Drive).

The Crissy Field Center staff had to work quickly to find a new location for its classrooms, labs, cafe and visitor amenities within six months. Their solution turned out to be a golden “green” opportunity. One of the nation’s greenest park-based buildings promises to be an outstanding model of sustainability.

The new 7,200-sq-ft home for the Crissy Field Center was created through a fast-acting, multi-agency partnership involving the National Park Service, Parks Conservancy, Project FROG (Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth) and Caltrans, with support from the Presidio Trust. The high performance modular facility, currently on track for LEED gold certification, will serve not only as a hub of sustainability programming in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but also as a convening spot and resource for local community organizations, visiting diplomats, politicians, and educational leaders on both national and international fronts.

The facility, which went from concept to completion in just nine months, features classrooms, science labs, an art room, administrative offices and the Beach Hut café.

The structures were designed by San Francisco-based Project FROG, a leading manufacturer of “smart” buildings that utilize integrated technology to optimize environmental, economic, and human performance. The FROG solution combines key attributes such as abundant natural daylight to minimize the need for electrical light, low-VOC content materials for improved air quality, better sightlines, and optimal acoustics, to achieve an environment that enhances learning without compromising aesthetics or affordability.

The Crissy Field Center is one of the most technologically advanced, energy-efficient, and healthy buildings in the park, which can also serve as a teaching tool for the Center’s youth participants and general public. In fact, The center is under consideration as a potential Federal demonstration site for alternative energy production, enabling scientists to test out new solar and wind technologies.

Project Team

Developer/Owner: Golden Gate National Parks/Project Frog JV, San Francisco
General Contractor: Fisher Development Inc., San Francisco
Architect: MK Think, San Francisco
Civil Engineer: Moffatt & Nichol, Walnut Creek<
Structural Engineer: Degenkolb, San Francisco
MEP Engineer: Fard Engineers, Walnut Creek
Subcontractors: Ahlborn Structural Steel, Santa Rosa; Alliance Roofing, San Jose; Commercial Glass & Aluminum, Pittsburg