- grimshaw is designing the north american version of the eden project in the midst of a corn field. If they build it, will they come?



'drawing from the 37 million residents who live within a day's drive of Iowa' this isn't sustainable!

Using leading green design concepts by Grimshaw, high-efficiency, energy saving materials such as ETFE foil made by DuPont and others, and leading automation and climate control technologies by Siemens, Earthpark™ will utilize about one-quarter to one-half the energy of a major national aquarium on an equivalent area basis.

In addition, the facility’s rugged, high-transparency, three-layer ETFE-foil roof will have super insulating properties that will be used to help regulate the rain forest environment during Iowa’s varied seasons.

Meanwhile, Earthpark™ will use a mix of alternative and renewable energy systems to help power and run the facility: wind, geothermal, biomass and solar energies are all possibilities. Depending on site location and partner needs, additional energy savings may be possible by using lower cost alternative fuels grown here in Iowa and more efficiently distributed energy generation and storage techniques.

A complex water collection system will recapture up to one-third of annual on-site precipitation. A rooftop collection system will yield about 600 gallons per 1,000 sq.ft. of roof for each inch of rainfall - cleansed and recycled through an external water purification system. The collection system will be an important source of water for non-potable uses on site, including Earthpark’s mission critical aquarium.

Within the masterplanned area, Earthpark™ and its development partners will utilize state-of-the-art storm water collection and detention systems to help minimize any negative hydrologic impacts on the environment. These systems will be an integral part of the Earthpark™ story.