In an effort to help preserve water quality and promote sustainable land management practices in rural Decatur, Texas (about 64 miles northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area), the Dixon Water Foundation commissioned San Antonio firm Lake|Flato Architects to build a low-lying gabled beauty consisting of two structures that house an educational center and an herbarium, respectively. The Betty and Clint Josey Pavilion, as it's known, measures 5,400 square feet and is 100% solar-powered. To boot, in the height of Texas's heat, the pavilion employs no air conditioning and is instead passively cooled. (There building also foregoes a heating system.) Because no green building is complete without a sound water management strategy—especially one meant to help teach people conservation and protection strategies—the pavilion also harvests rainwater for use on the site and treats wastewater before it's disposed of.
∙ Solar-powered Josey Pavilion beats wicked hot Texas summers [Inhabitat]