Edelman Fossil Park & Museum is taking shape in South Jersey. The museum is situated within an active dinosaur fossil dig site which contains thousands of fossils and provides a view into life in the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago. Once a shallow ocean environment, the site is now a 4-acre quarry, encompassed by a 65-acre property, where “citizen scientists” can dig for fossils, alongside leading paleontologists at Rowan University.
One of the project’s primary goals is to encourage environmental stewardship through both education and demonstration of high-performance sustainability through the building, which will be New Jersey’s largest public net zero facility and part of the Living Building Challenge. Incorporating features such as geothermal, wells for ground-source heating and cooling systems and a photo voltaic solar field, 100% of the energy used by the museum will come from a combination of green energy available in New Jersey’s power grid and renewable energy produced on-site. No fossil fuels will be combusted for museum operations and no greenhouse gasses will be released into the atmosphere. In addition, the surrounding grounds will restore plant and animal habitat and other key landscape features. The building utilizes heavy timber and cross-laminated timber structure as well as wood cladding to maximize the use of renewable materials.
Drone footage courtesy of Powell Pixels.