July 30, 2009

Rachel Prucey 
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
650.604.0643 
Rachel.L.Prucey@nasa.gov  
RELEASE: C09-92

NASA AMES AWARDS CONTRACT TO BUILD SUSTAINABILITY BASE

MOFFETT FIELD – NASA has selected Swinerton Inc., San Francisco, to 
receive a construction contract to build a new sustainable facility 
at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 

The firm-fixed-price contract valued at $20,626,000 begins July 31, 
2009 and lasts 390 days. 

Under the terms of the contract, the company will construct a 
building, named the NASA Sustainability Base, in honor of the 
Tranquility Base of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The building is 
designed to incorporate some of the agency’s most advanced recycling 
and intelligent control technologies originally developed to support 
NASA’s human and robotic space exploration missions. 

The building is designed to achieve a platinum rating under the 
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design new construction 
standards for environmentally sustainable construction developed by 
the U.S. Green Building Council, Washington. In order to achieve 
sustainability, the building will have zero net energy consumption, 
use 90 percent less potable water than conventionally built buildings 
of equivalent size and reduce building maintenance costs. 

The company will prepare the site and utilities by installing 
approximately 72 geothermal wells utilizing ground-source heat pumps, 
parking and landscaping with California-native plants. In addition, 
the company also will install sophisticated systems for solar water 
heating, fire detection and suppression, advanced lighting, security, 
communications operations and site storm water management. These 
systems will be designed to anticipate and react to changes in 
sunlight, temperature, wind, and use of resources and will 
automatically optimize the building's performance. 

The new facility will feature a structural steel frame, stand two 
stories tall with two wings and will have approximately 50,000 square 
feet of open office space, lunchrooms and a glass-walled atrium. 

To watch a video about the Sustainability Base to be built at NASA's 
Ames, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace/sustainability-base.html 

For more information about the Greenspace Initiative at NASA's Ames, 
visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace 

For more information about NASA's Ames, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ames 

	
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