The City of Berkeley’s Shorebird Park Nature Center is the first municipal strawbale building in the United States. It has a solar hot water radiant system to provide heating year-round in the cool marina climate, and a solar photovoltaic electrical system to power the aquariums, computers, lighting and other equipment.   Our  Straw Bale building  is  the Nature/Visitors Center and Office. Here you'll find  a 50 gallon salt tank, a 30 gallon fresh water tank and displays on Marine mammals and birds.The building itself is a display on green building.  The Visitors' Center provides information to visitors concerning all areas of recreation and marine conservation and education.  We do group tours which include watching a video on the process of building this building.