The City of Watsonville Water and Resources Center in Watsonville, Calif., was selected by the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (COTE) as one of the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The 16,000-square-foot building designed by WRNS Studio, features the NanaWall® SL70 folding glass wall systems.

The center was designed to incorporate passive cooling, taking advantage of the site’s coastal Pacific winds. Private offices, for instance, are equipped with glass sidelites and operable clearstory windows to allow in natural light and air to move through the private and public spaces. Also, in the staff break room, an eight-panel SL70 NanawWall that’s 25-feet wide connects to an outdoor terrace. In the conference room a five-panel NanaWall system allows the room to be modified to accommodate large events while providing access to the covered patio and water feature.

“NanaWall provided the design team with a complete window-wall system that addressed our goals of connecting spaces to one another—both interior and exterior,” says Adam Woltag, AIA, LEED AP, associate partner with WRNS Studio. “The SL70 gave us the ability to open spaces up to the outdoors and drive home our desire to connect and ground the building to its context in a direct, honest and cost-effective way.”