Outdoor Education Space

The Outdoor Education Space at the Gibbs House is being designed by a group of students and staff, with backgrounds in engineering, graphic design, environmental studies and behavioral psychology. The design team is led by graduate student Kelsey Pitschel and Dr. Harold Glasser. The Living Building Challenge-inspired outdoor education space is being designed to achieve net zero status by utilizing solar photovoltaic panels, rainwater collection, composting toilets and responsibly sourced materials. The space will be open to the public for community gatherings, K-12 and collegiate lectures, farm volunteering and workshops, seasonal celebrations, retreats and many other special events. 


The team has received a P3 grant from the US EPA for $15,000. This funding cycle ends August 2017, and we will be applying for Phase II funding of up to $75,000 to support the project further. 

We are conducting several charrettes with community members and local sustainability ambassadors to develop an iterative and inclusive schematic design that will be useful, intimate and accessible to all members of the community. 

The schematic design will be presented at the EPA expo in May 2017, in Washington, DC. 

For more updates and details on the Outdoor Education Space, visit our blog where you can follow our progress more intimately:  OES BLOG