On May 7, the Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI), a manufacturing-based trade association, announced the Pier 15 Exploratorium as their Project of the Year in the Building/Construction division. The project showcases 200,000 feet of Uponor North America’s Wirsbo hePEX™ crosslinked polyethylene (PEX-a) tubing for the unique radiant heating and cooling system that uses the San Francisco Bay as a heat sink/heat source.

The project, designed by EHDD Architecture of San Francisco and engineered by Integral Group of Oakland, renovated a century-old building on San Francisco’s Pier 15 into the largest net-zero energy and net-zero carbon museum in the United States. The 330,000-square-foot, LEED-Gold structure is projected to be 57% more efficient than the ASHRAE 90.1 energy standard requires, thanks in part to the Uponor radiant heating and cooling system.

“We are very proud to receive this recognition by our peers in the plastics pipe industry,” says Bill Gray, president, Uponor North America. “The Pier 15 Exploratorium is an excellent example of the benefits of flexible plastic pipe and how it can transform a historic building into an impressively sustainable project.”

For more information, see http://uponor.oreilly-depalma.com/2013/pier-15-ppi-poy-ca.shtml