Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.2

Inquiry

This project is a visitor center for a state park. The state park includes the visitor center, picnic shelters, comfort stations (housing toilet facilities), trails, etc. The visitor center consists of a lobby, exhibit area, gift shop, auditorium, office space, conference room and break room. The building will be open 363 days/ year, between 8 AM and 4:30 PM. The building will have 3 full-time employees (2 male, 1 female). Projections for visitors are about 75,000 per year, which averages out to 207 per day. The Park Manager assumes that visitors will spend between 15 minutes and 2 hrs in the building, so we\'re estimating 1hr per visitor. It takes 8.5 visitors to create one Full Time Occupant. Thus the building would have an occupancy of 25 visitors plus 3 employees, totaling 28, 14 male, and 14 female. Taking the assumptions from the reference guide, we come to the following daily usage numbers: WC: 56 total uses, Lavatory: 84 uses, Urinal: 28 uses, Kitchen sink (for employee use only): 3 uses. Of these total uses, 9 lavatory and 9 WC and urinal uses combined are by the 3 full time employees. Thus, approximately 36% of the visitors will use the facilities (assuming one use per visitor). We assume some visitors will not use the facilities at all while in the park, while others may use those located in the comfort stations throughout the park instead of those located in the visitor center. Is this calculation for this building type acceptable for this credit?