New Wilderness Medicine Campus

IMEG provided engineering design for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) WYSS Wilderness Medicine Campus, located outside Lander, WY. The facility reflects the owner’s values of minimizing their impact on the environment, not only as it applies to the backwoods, but as it applies to their built environment. 

The campus is comprised of an educational facility, student housing, instructor housing, and caretaker residence. The educational facility has two classrooms, conference rooms, kitchen, dining hall, and student lounge areas. The housing units are four-bed apartments with shared toilet and living areas in each. Two eight-bed apartments comprised of two four-bed units are aligned back to back and share a common porch area. Instructors share two three-bedroom houses, with a separate house for the caretaker. 

The remote site’s design included many sustainable elements to make the facilities as close to net zero as possible in electricity and water use, as well as waste discharge. The building thermal envelopes are extremely effective, and natural daylight is available in all spaces and serves as the primary lighting throughout, with artificial lighting provided for night and supplemental use. 

Mechanical and electrical systems are designed to minimize energy use and maximize renewable resources. Much of the electrical load can be served via solar power obtained from photovoltaic panels. Rainwater is captured, stored, and used for flushing toilets in the housing units, while composting toilets are used in the educational facility. Natural ventilation is provided along with energy recovery ventilators for a low energy application. A ground source heat pump system serves in-floor radiant heating/cooling zones designed to provide comfort and energy efficiency.