The Highland Sam J. Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center unites the best in academic and hands-on educational experiences, and our engineers’ mechanical, electrical, and plumbing expertise helped bring it all together.

Located in the city of Highland, San Bernardino County, just outside of Los Angeles, this innovative center holds much more than your average library. Nearly triple the size of the county’s previous library, the new 27,000-square-foot space has all the standard amenities—books, study space, a computer lab, community rooms—and a lot more.

Some of the center’s standout features include a science lab, an enclosed outdoor auditorium, and a Discovery Room where visitors can find a variety of small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish in carefully curated wildlife displays. In addition to these, a 2,000-square-foot Exhibit Room hosts permanent and rotating interactive learning displays on topics like the environment and consumer recycling, and the facility is crowned by a 15,000-square-foot rooftop garden that provides natural insulation and tactile learning features while also growing produce to feed the facility’s animals. Community educators and library staff use these distinctive, hands-on features to get young people excited about learning and environmental responsibility.

City officials placed a high priority on sustainability when they planned this facility. The center is built with 28% recycled or reused materials, makes extensive use of natural light, and utilizes high thermal-resistant materials for reducing heating and cooling loads—factors that led it to earn LEED Gold certification.