Brock Environmental Center, Environmental education building in Virginia Beach, US

The Brock Environmental Center is a modern educational building in Virginia Beach with large windows that flood the single-floor interior with natural light. The structure was designed with eco-friendly materials and systems to achieve minimal environmental impact.

Pleasure House Point was bought in 2012 for $13 million by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the City of Virginia Beach, the Trust for Public Land and local residents, after the Indigo Dunes condo project collapsed in 2008. CBF then bought a small corner of the 118-acre peninsula for its center, named after Dollar Tree founder Macon Brock and his wife Joan.

The center brings together environmental organizations, educators, and community members who collaborate through workshops and programs focused on marine ecosystem protection. Visitors can experience firsthand how communities work to preserve local waters and wildlife.

The center sits on the banks of the Lynnhaven River at Pleasure House Point, a 118-acre peninsula at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Rooftop photovoltaic panels supply about 60 percent of its energy and two 10-kilowatt wind turbines the remaining 40 percent. Geothermal wells reach 300 feet below the surface, and the building uses 80 percent less energy than a typical building of its size.

Two 1,600-gallon rain cisterns and a filtering system earned the Brock Center the first commercial permit in the United States for drinking filtered rainwater, granted under federal drinking water requirements. Toilets are composting waterless units, and rain gardens plus a graywater garden handle runoff from sinks and showers.