Herring Gut Learning Center is a Maine-based nonprofit that provides hands-on learning experiences in aquaculture and marine science for both students and educators. GO Logic recently assisted Herring Gut in re-envisoning the institution’s beautiful Port Clyde campus to support expanded educational and professional development programs. Our work consisted of a master plan that optimizes the functional and experiential quality of the site; renovation of existing educational and administrative buildings; and new construction that includes a greenhouse addition to the main education building, two 18-bed student residences—the Cabins—and a dynamic new multiuse educational and research facility: the Sea Farm.
Our proposed conceptual design for the Sea Farm was inspired by its role as the base for Herring Gut’s saltwater aquaculture programs. Downhill from the central campus, on a saltwater inlet long ago dammed to form a lobster pound, the proposed new building reflects its working-waterfront setting in both form and materials. Its shed-like massing, while unmistakably modern, also relates to nearby industrial buildings along the shore, which Herring Gut leases to a seafood processor and an algae-biotech research company. Its cedar-screen cladding references fish weirs and other traditional maritime structures.
In construction, performance, and user experience, the new Sea Farm building would be thoroughly contemporary. Its lantern-like entry faces uphill, toward the central campus. Inside, a two-story reception area opens into an airy, glass-walled auditorium with views over the lobster pound and Port Clyde harbor, reinforcing the building’s maritime focus. Additional spaces, on two floors, are devoted to classroom instruction, research, and support functions.
Integral to our design is a Passive House-level building shell—with superinsulated walls, high performance glazing, and a heat-recovery ventilation system—which will minimize the building’s energy demand and consequent carbon emissions. Its long, sloping roof is oriented to support a large array of photovoltaic panels. Stringent analysis and careful selection of building materials will allow us to offset the structure’s overall carbon debt—encompassing not only the building’s operations, but also the energy consumed in its production—within within a conservative 50-year lifespan.
