NEW SCOTLAND — The Five Rivers Environmental Education Center that lies in both New Scotland and Bethlehem hosted a groundbreaking for a new $7 million visitor center last Thursday.

The new center will allow hands-on exhibits to stay open all year; designers hope to expand the diversity of people who use the park and continue to offer Braille, large print, and audio guides for trails. Staff estimated that 3.6 million people have visited Five Rivers since it opened in 1972.

Envision Architects designed “a living green building,” said Marc Gerstman, the acting commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. The building will incorporate features like a vegetative roof and the use of gray water systems similar to the ones in the Wendy Repass Suozzo Guided School Program education building, built in 2012, which sits nearby.

The new building will replace the older building onsite that houses the center’s hands-on exhibits and displays.

“Our personal histories are here,” Gerstman said. “We all have that personal connection.” He said that Five Rivers helps children get out in nature, and that, with a green building, they will learn about taking care of the environment.

With this second phase of construction within three years, the center will attract more visitors with its new exhibits and educate children and adults about nature, said Dr. Robert J. Gordon, the president of the Friends of Five Rivers.

During the ground-breaking ceremony, more than 100 schoolchildren were out on the center’s nature trails.

Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, an Albany resident, said that she has enjoyed Five Rivers with her children.

“It’s just so important,” Fahy said of Five Rivers’ continued improvements. “It really puts their education in context. She referred to the phrase, “No child left inside,” saying, “It does make a difference with the children.

“It’s so good for the health of the families, over all, but it also teaches them a respect for the environment,” Fahy continued. “We have to change the culture and the mindset while we also change policies. It is important that we connect those dots, and make sure that — year-round — we will keep children here.”

Bethlehem Supervisor John Clarkson noted that he was standing in New Scotland as he addressed the audience.

“This is why families value living in New Scotland and in Bethlehem,” he said. “This truly is about the children. This is about the future. We all owe a great debt to Commissioner Martens.”

Joseph Martens, who joined the DEC in 2011, stepped down as commissioner last July to rejoin the not-for-profit group Open Space Institute, with which he had worked since 1995.

Martens, who lives locally, said that DEC and state Office of General Services staff perform difficult jobs; he praised his fellow panelist RoAnn M. Destito, the OGS commissioner, and Gerstman.

Martens described an autumn moment when he rested with his children on a bench near the pond at Five Rivers, and wood ducks descended on the water.

“There is no more special moment of my life out here with my kids,” he said. The center is important for children and for the future, he said, “not just for the region, but it’s important to the state of New York.”

The new visitor center should be completed by December 2016.