History of Green Building in NYC
Public Sector Leadership And Private Sector Innovation Have Combined To Make New York City’s Famous Skyline One Of The Greenest In The U.S.
A City Of Firsts: Early Adopters of Green Building
Green construction first appeared in New York City in 1988 with the renovation of several floors of an existing building in Manhattan for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Designed by the seminal New York-based firm Croxton Collaborative Architects, this project marked a turning point in the green building movement. It went beyond mere energy efficiency to also address light, air quality, and human health and well-being. In 1992, Croxton Collaborative also was behind the first comprehensive green building project in New York, the renovation of the historic Schermerhorn Building to serve as headquarters for the National Audubon Society. More than a decade later, the Audubon House is still one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in not only the city, but the country.
Four Times Square, the first green skyscraper in North America, was built in New York in 1999. Developed by the Durst Corporation and designed by New York architects Fox & Fowle, it was also the first speculative office building in New York in more than a decade. What's more, it was 100% leased within just four months of its January 2000 opening. Bob Fox (now with Richard Cook at Cook + Fox Architects) has teamed up again with Durst on the new Bank of America headquarters at One Bryant Park, which is intended to be the first LEED® Platinum-rated high-rise building when completed in 2008.
Laying The Foundation: The Office Of Sustainable Design and Battery Park City
The green building movement truly started to take hold in New York in 1997, when the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) formed the Office of Sustainable Design (OSD) to identify and implement cost-effective ways to promote environmental responsibility in building design. In 1999, OSD published DDC’s High Performance Building Guidelines, which helped introduce sustainable design to DDC project teams and to New York City as a whole. In October 2005, OSD published a companion piece for infrastructure, the High Performance Infrastructure Guidelines, among the first such guidelines in the world. As of May 2006, about 30 pilot projects incorporating sustainable strategies had been built or were in design or construction under the management of DDC. The OSD also offers reference manuals, training programs, and other resources to help DDC project teams achieve LEED certification as required by New York City’s Local Law 86 (see below).
Since 1968, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) has been guiding the development of Battery Park City to create and maintain a balanced community of commercial, residential, retail, and public space. Innovative urban planning and environmental responsibility have been hallmarks of BPCA’s work, as well as the impetus for the organization’s groundbreaking Residential Environmental Guidelines, developed by Fox & Fowle in 1999. So it’s no surprise that BPCA embraced the LEED Green Building Rating System early on and today manages one of the greenest neighborhoods in the world. Batter Park City is home to The Solaire, a LEED Gold building that was the first green high-rise residential project in North America, and Goldman Sachs’ new headquarters, currently under construction and projected to achieve LEED Gold. In addition, BPCA has seven more green residential buildings under construction, three of which are expected to achieve LEED Platinum.
Building on the success of DDC and Battery Park City, the New York City Transit Authority has also developed green design guidelines, and it has constructed a number of sustainable projects, too. Among the most prominent is the Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, which features one of largest thin-film, building-integrated photovoltaic installation anywhere.
A City Rebuilds: Greening The World Trade Center
In 2006, five years after the 9/11 attacks, then-New York Governor George Pataki announced that the Freedom Tower, World Trade Center Office Towers 2, 3, and 4, and World Trade Center Memorial and Memorial Museum would all be designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. Another nearby site, 7 World Trade Center, has already earned LEED Gold and will house one of the largest fuel-cell installations in the world. As Pataki noted at the time, the commitment to green building symbolizes much more than protecting the environment: “By moving forward with state-of-the-art design and guidelines, New York will once again show the world our ingenuity, innovation, and commitment to building a stronger, brighter future for all.”
Local Transformation: USGBC New York
USGBC’s regional network of local chapters and affiliates serves as the “front door” of the USGBC, providing green building resources, education, and leadership in communities across the country. Since its founding in 2002, the New York City chapter has been one of the Council’s most active and dynamic in the nation.
The New York chapter’s advocacy efforts paid off in 2005, when New York City enacted Local Law 86, which requires most city-owned and city-funded buildings to achieve LEED Silver certification. New York’s law -- drafted by USGBC New York Executive Director, Russell Unger, during his tenure as Legislative Attorney for the New York City Council -- is one of the strongest in the U.S. In fact, the law is expected to green more than $12 billion worth of city construction by 2017.
Furthering the city’s commitment to environmental protection, in December 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg committed the City of New York to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. Meeting this challenge will require substantial changes to building infrastructure. This makes the city’s commitment to LEED — and the New York chapter’s ongoing support — all the more important.
In the spring of 2007, USGBC New York moved into its new headquarters in the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Lower Manhattan, the site where New York City was founded. Surrounded by the city’s past, the New York chapter will help build its future by advocating for a green New York.
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>> A City of Firsts: Early Adopters of Green Buliding
>> Laying The Foundation: The Office Of Sustainable Design and Battery Park City
>> A City Rebuilds: Greening The World Trade Center
>> Local Transformation: USGBC New York
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