The lobby of the Conservation Center.

The Conservation Center, headquarters of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, is located in Concord, N.H., on 103 acres of conserved land on the Merrimack River. The Conservation Center demonstrates the use of renewable natural resources and energy conservation techniques in design and construction. The campus is a great example of the evolution of energy-conscious design since 1980.

The original building’s energy-efficient, passive solar design was cutting edge for its time and received many accolades for its use of energy conservation, renewable energy sources, and imaginative use of native forest products. The Weeks Wing addition in 1990 and French Wing addition in 2000 further demonstrated the Forest Society’s commitment to walking the walk by pursuing the same goals and achieving the first LEED-Gold certification in New England in 2003.

The Conservation Center has won many awards over the years and was most recently awarded the 25-Year Award for Excellence in Architecture from the AIANH for its design by acclaimed architect C. Stuart White.

The south-facing aspect of the 1980 main building has 1500 square feet of glass, allowing solar gain to flood the building with natural daylight and to capture passive solar energy. Forest Society photo.