New center will be Marine Lab’s first totally ‘green’ building and the first new academic building on the Beaufort campus in 30 years.

Groundbreaking for the Duke Marine Laboratory’s new $1.5 million Ocean Science Teaching Center will take place at noon Saturday, April 24, at the Marine Lab campus in Beaufort.

The 5,000-square-foot center, to be located at the point of Pivers Island, will be the first new academic building constructed on the Beaufort campus in 30 years, and the Marine Lab’s first totally “green” building, designed to the highest standards for energy and environmental efficiency adopted by the U.S. Green Building Council. When completed in fall 2005, it will greatly expand the Marine Lab’s teaching capacity and enhance its capabilities for public outreach and education.

Media coverage of the groundbreaking is welcomed.

The new center will be named in honor of Randy Repass, chairman of West Marine Inc. of Watsonville, Calif., and his wife Sally-Christine Rodgers, in recognition of their $2.3 million gift to Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences to help fund the center and create a new University Professorship in Marine Conservation Technology at the Marine Lab.

In accordance with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, the center will incorporate green technologies such as solar and geothermal energy, tidal and wind power, and sustainable materials such as bamboo paneling and concrete made from fly ash.

It will house a teaching laboratory; a televideo-capable lecture hall for team teaching and distance education; interpretive educational displays; and spaces for social interactions.