Omega Center for Sustainable Living
Rhinebeck, NY
Project Context
The Omega Center for Sustainable Living at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is a New York based wellness center. As a nonprofit organization, the Omega Institute offers educational experiences that focus on personal and social change.
The Omega Institute commissioned BNIM Architects to design a new 6,200 square foot facility on a 4.5 acre site to serve as a new and highly sustainable wastewater treatment facility with the dual function of providing educational opportunities. BNIM chose NSI and JTED as the design partners for the wastewater system. The goal for this project was to overhaul the Institute’s existing wastewater disposal system and replace it with a biologically diverse system.
NSI Contributions
Omega decided to showcase the system in a building that houses an aerobic treatment pond stocked with native and tropical plants, and a classroom and laboratory. The 52,000 gallon per day wastewater treatment system, which consists of 6 treatment steps, is a low energy and low maintenance system. The effluent water quality will meet or exceed all of the State of New York water quality standards for the land application/subsurface disposal of treated effluent. This will allow the Institute to potentially reuse the water to irrigate 2.5 acres of the campus using a pressure-dosed subsurface irrigation system. The Omega Institute will use the wastewater facility as a teaching tool in their educational program designed around the ecological impact of their campus.
Construction will commence in Late 2008/Early 2009. The building and water system are designed to meet USGBC LEED Platinum standards and also to achieve certification as a Living Building.
