While New York City is certainly home to its fair share of strange creatures, alligators are most definitely not on that list. But right now, these slithering creatures are happily hanging out in the most unusual of swampy locales: Chelsea Market. To drum up excitement for the History Channel's show Swamp People and to teach people about the Louisiana bayou ecosystem, a 12,100-cubic-foot swamp has been constructed in the bustling west side market. Complete with alligators, turtles, murky waters, and living cypress trees, the Swamp in the City is an incredibly unique and intriguing experience for all ages.

 

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Aerial view of the area where the Brooklyn-Queens pipeline would run

Brooklyn and Queens homes may soon be powered by natural gas instead of heavily polluting number 4 and number 6 heating oils. On February 7, a bill for construction of a new three-mile pipeline sailed through the House of Representatives. The pipeline would traverse under Jacob Riis Park and the Gateway National Recreation Area in Queens and through a small part of southern Brooklyn. The plan has been met with little criticism, and NY1 reports that it is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative for a more sustainable city powered by cleaner energy. However, we can’t help but be ticked off by this, as natural gas is not a sustainable resource nor is it a source of clean, renewable energy.

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Every year, we anxiously await the announcement of the winner of MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program (YAP) -- the news means that cutting edge summer fun is just around the corner! This year's winning pavilion has just been revealed, and we are thrilled to announce that once again, a local firm has taken the top prize. HWKN created a zany platform and pavilion called Wendy that includes combines water canons, air cleaning capabilities, and a massively cool, spiky-armed design. During its tenure at the courtyard, this incredible project will remove emissions equivalent to taking 260 cars off the road and will no doubt make the 13th Warm-Up music series one of the best yet.

 

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Described as a publication for those enthralled by the natural world, Wilder Quarterly is a visually-stimulating new magazine aimed at modern day growers and gardeners. The Brooklyn-based print publication features everything from local farmers and foodies to architects and amateur urban gardeners. Inhabitat recently shared a few of Wilder’s stories from the Winter 2012 issue, and Wilder generously created a special discount code for Inhabitat readers to enjoy 15 percent off of a single issue or a subscription.

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This Valentine’s Day, give your love something eco-friendly — a bouquet of artful recycled newspaper roses! While cut flowers are pretty for a fleeting moment, they are wasteful and die quickly. These delicate paper roses stay fresh forever, and they show your sweetheart that you not only love him or her, but also Mother Earth! The roses make a unique Valentine gift and also benefit the Lower East Side Girls Club.

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You know how the saying goes: the more, the merrier! The Bjarke Ingels Group translated this idea into a physical reality for their latest project in New York City, a bright pink, 10-foot tall pulsing heart sculpture in the middle of Times Square New York. The hovering heart appears inside a cube of 400 clear acrylic rods that catch the brilliant LED lights of the beating heart. Activated by the warmth from visitors hands, the heart grows brighter as more people join together.

 

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The greatly anticipated One World Trade Center is now the most expensive new office tower in the world. An additional $700 million in estimated costs is bringing the total cost of 1 WTC to almost $3.8 billion. What’s more is that many of these extra millions are being tacked on due to a design flaw. According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the necessary loading dock for tenants to move in will not be completed on time, so five temporary loading docks must be built, jacking the cost up by millions.

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As Giants fans crowd the streets today to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl win, the confetti that will sprinkle down upon fans and players will be made of 100 precent recycled paper! Offices and recycling companies around the city have donated over 50 tons of shredded paper that will be used as victory confetti as Eli Manning and the Giants parade through Lower Manhattan.

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With construction serving as an ongoing disturbance to many New Yorkers, the Centre-Fuge Public Art Project has found a way to provide a unique twist on the otherwise bothersome ordeal. A drab grey trailer on East 1st Street is being transformed into raw canvas where a rotating collection of artists will have the opportunity to display their work. The artwork will change every two months, and the year-long project will culminate in a collaborative mural that will be unveiled with the opening of the new Second Avenue subway line. Inhabitat visited the Lower East Side to find out how the first group of artists have transformed the trailer, adding even more spark to the already happening neighborhood.

 

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The Lower East Side Ecology Center opened their e-waste warehouse in Gowanus, Brooklyn just last week, and Inhabitat got an inside look at the new facility. The permanent facility will complement the organization's ongoing electronic waste collection events throughout the city, serving as a storage and sorting depot where anyone can bring their old computers, televisions, stereos, and the like to ensure that the precious metals, plastics, and toxins inside are properly extracted and recycled. Because of New York State's recently passed Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act, proper recycling of electronic products will gradually become law for businesses and private citizens, making spaces such as this crucial to the process. Click ahead to see more from our tour of the space and learn more about the e-waste sorting process.

 

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced last week 25 percent of the proposed green building laws have been drafted into law over the last two years. The proposals were part of a green building report originally published by the Urban Green Council. Of the 111 recommendations in the report, 29 of them have been drafted into law, with an additional eight recommendations currently being codified. The new laws will reduce greenhouse emissions by 5 percent citywide, saving the city $400 million by 2030.

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The ambitious Delancey Underground, also known as The Low Line, is making progress and moving forward. To bring natural light to the subterranean space, the project's creator, James Ramsey, has begun designing an innovative sunlight irrigation system in his friend’s apartment. Ramsey and project co-founder Dan Barasch announced at the Trespa Design Center this week that the initial tests were successful, and they plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a larger scale prototype.

 

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New York City urban planners now have an important tool to help create energy reduction plans. An interactive map of New York has been developed by the Columbia University Engineering School to show the energy consumption of individual buildings across the five boroughs. Users can select a building on the map, see how much energy it uses, and what it uses the energy for. The data will help planners initiate energy conservation programs and know exactly which buildings and areas to target.

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JPMorgan Chase’s recently renovated global headquarters on Park Avenue in New York City has achieved LEED Platinum status! The newly greened building now holds the title of being the largest renovation in the world to achieve the USGBC’s highest certification. The renovation to the 50-story building will cut energy consumption by 50 percent and save more than one million gallons of water every year.

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photo © Jackie Snow for Wilder Quarterly, used with permission

Rooftop farming during the winter may seem like an oxymoron, but Annie Novak of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn says that winter on a farm is far from fallow. In the latest issue of Wilder Quarterly, a new Brooklyn-based magazine geared toward contemporary gardeners and growers, Novak shares the details of wintery urban agriculture while reflecting on the struggles she and other farmers faced over the last year because of 2011′s rough weather.

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