We are currently designing a cultural museum which includes animal housing and keeping areas. The two buildings also house retail, dining and administration. Along with three other sustainable projects the two buildings are located on the natural springs of the Las Vegas Valley. The intention of the development is to illustrate the importance of water for life in our regional society. Three permanent galleries and a theater explain how life developed in the Las Vegas valley in respect /disrespect to the rarity of water. It emphasizes the sustainable use and conservation of water. In our building shell design we are following many of the LEED criteria. Some of the measures are reducing the water - energy consumption, the use of green products and the improvement of the indoor environment. However, because of the unique characteristics of this museum we are not certain how to treat the exhibits in our calculations. Some of the exhibits use higher than average energy consumption relative to theatrical effects lighting and additional HVAC cooling capacities. Many of the exhibits are designed with controlled lighting to enhance the presentation. For this reason natural daylight is not desired as it adversely affects the visitor experience. The materials for the construction of the exhibits are specifically selected for the enhancement of the visitor experience and not necessarily sustainable performance. Our current understanding is to treat the exhibit as furniture and to exclude it in the calculations. Is this a correct interpretation? The anticipated visitor, (transient) load for our project is far greater than the amount of full time employees. We are not sure which load is to be considered when calculating the number of required carpool spaces mentioned in SS credit 4.4..