Food + Farm Exploration Center

Location: Plover, Wisconsin

Areas of Expertise: HVAC, Plumbing

The Food & Farm Exploration Center is a 50,000 square foot, two-story facility located on 24-acres in Plover, Wisconsin. The Exploration Center is a teaching farm, museum, and community center designed to celebrate the importance of farming.

Hooper’s HVAC team provided heating, cooling, and air handling expertise at the new facility with four rooftop units, 32 variable air volume (VAV) systems, 11 cabinet unit heaters, four split systems, and support of two kitchen areas, one for teaching and the other for event meal preparation. Both kitchen designs required make-up air intake and grease exhaust systems, as well as a new hot water boiler plant.

Hooper’s Plumbing team worked on the domestic water, sanitary and storm drains, natural gas, compressed air, greasy waste and vent systems. Many of the key plumbing systems were integrated within the unique architectural elements of the building and designed to be seen by visitors.

The Food & Farm Exploration Center exhibits offered our teams the opportunity to work on some unique features. Plumbing installed an air compressor and compressed air distribution line to support the “Optical Sorter” exhibit. The HVAC team installed a specialized cooling system in the “Potato Storage Shed” to maintain a consistent 60-degree temperature and 50 to 60 percent relative humidity, year-round.