Wyoming Welcome Center | on I-90

Wyoming’s first Net Zero Energy building, the 5,000 SF Wyoming Welcome Center is located six miles west of the Wyoming/South Dakota border at the Aladdin interchange.

The building design, geared to visitors coming to the State from the East, many going towards Yellowstone National Park, is of a classic heavy timber and stone design with subtle modern accents. The entry is very clearly defined even though we have provided a secondary after-hours entry for the always-open restroom portion. This after-hours entry becomes the primary entry with lighting changes appropriate to the time of day.

Most notably, we have designed this building to be a Net Zero Energy facility, meaning it generates as much energy as it uses, and likely more than it uses, making it philosophically similar to Wyoming itself, which generates far more energy in its natural resource abundance than its small population would ever use.

We believe this is the first Net Zero Energy building to be constructed by the State of Wyoming. Its primary source of power is 50KW array of photo-voltaic panels, roof-mounted so as to be fully integrated with the architecture. The primary source of winter heating and summer cooling is a series of 14 geothermal wells. The wells and geothermal system function year-round to transfer heat between the building and the wells.  Paired with its low energy use, we have specified low-maintenance building materials inside and out for maximum ease of cleaning and longevity. Building and site costs on the facility, which opened July 2010, came to $4.9M.