The Maintenance and Operations Complex at Palomar Community College received a 2020 Green GOOD DESIGN® Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. In the 12th year as a special edition of the GOOD DESIGN® program founded by Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames, the Green GOOD DESIGN® Awards honor projects globally that demonstrate outstanding ecological and sustainable design.

The Maintenance and Operations Complex is among 100 projects in product design, graphics, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning and visionary leaders, selected from 20 nations for a 2020 Green GOOD DESIGN® Award. Prominent themes among the projects include: conserve, reuse, retrofit, and recycle. BNIM’s Maintenance and Operations Complex project was recognized alongside a number of leading international architecture and landscape architecture peers, including Latz + Partner Landscape Architects + Urban Planners, Turf Design Studio, ISA Internationales Stadtbauatelier, McGregor Coxall, CHROFI, Mitchell Giurgola, Paul Lukez, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, OFFICE 52 Architecture, APLES Green Design and Build, +1>2 Architects, Aidlin Darling Design, Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, Wejchert Architects, LEVER Architecture, Iosa Ghini Associati, and WEISS/MANFREDI.

The 2020 Green GOOD DESIGN® recipients will be featured in an exhibition at The European Centre’s Museum, Contemporary Space Athens, Greece in July - August 2020.

About Palomar Community College District Maintenance and Operations Complex:

The design of the Maintenance and Operations Complex integrates traditionally segmented shop spaces, office spaces, and warehouse space into one facility. It will provide a diverse user group an active, high-performance workplace that fully utilizes innovative passive design principles. The spatial diversity of the complex presented a unique opportunity to reallocate the costs associated with mechanical infrastructure to the building façade. A unique passive design system was utilized to embrace the southern California climate, and a narrow building footprint provides year-round optimal temperatures throughout the building. Innovative design strategies, such as thermal chimneys and roof monitors, create increased natural ventilation, lower building energy consumption, and decrease mechanical infrastructure. Other sustainable strategies, such as rainwater harvesting, renewable energy, and daylight harvesting, were incorporated to provide the user with a "long life, loose fit" building, which allows the Maintenance and Operations Complex to remain useful and operational well beyond the life many similar buildings.