Liberty Island’s Retail Pavilion is NYC’s Fifth LEED Platinum Building

New York City is now home to five <a href="http://inhabitat.com/empire-state-building-awarded-leed-gold-certification/" target="_blank">LEED Platinum</a> buildings -- the highest possible certification by the <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/">U.S. Green Buildings Council</a>. Designed by <a href="http://www.adparchitects.com/" target="_blank">Acheson Doyle Partners Architects</a>, the Liberty Island Retail Pavilion has just joined the ranks. The glass-walled pavilion, which is also coincidentally the fifth LEED platinum building in a national park in the country, greets visitors to the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/statue-of-liberty-cruise/" target="_blank">Statue of Liberty</a>.

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/corby-cube-creates-a-beautiful-glass-pavilion-for-public-gathering/" target="_blank">sleek pavilion</a> is encased in a sturdy steel frame, designed to withstand the weather elements and the heavy visitor traffic on the small island environment. The frame can also be easily disassembled and recycled should the building be deemed obsolete.

<a href="http://www.adparchitects.com/" target="_blank">Acheson Doyle</a> outfitted the building with state of the art green features, scoring 55 total points, three points higher than the 52 points required to gain a building <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19" target="_blank">LEED Platinum</a> status.

The building itself is heated by an incredible <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heating" target="_blank">geothermal heating</a> and cooling system, located 1500 feet below the ground. The glass curtain walls flood the interior, which includes a café and a gift shop, with natural lighting year round.

To control energy consumption, the interior and exterior lights use LED lighting, dropping energy consumption about 65 percent. A rooftop system collects and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sydneys-1-bligh-skyscraper-is-australias-greenest-office-tower/" target="_blank">filters rainwater</a>, diverting it for the pavilion’s usage, reducing the overall water usage by 40 percent.

The café feeds the hundreds of visitors per day, offering a variety of hot foods. The used <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vegetable-oil-car/" target="_blank">kitchen oil is then recycled</a>, and feeds a generator that powers a portion of the pavilion’s energy needs. Environmental concerns were maintained during construction, as the team was careful to recycle 95 percent of the construction waste and debris, keeping it out of the area landfill.

With over 3 million visitors to the island and the <a href="http://www.statueoflibertytickets.com/" target="_blank">Statue of Liberty</a> per year, the pavilion has a lot of mouths to feed. The park chose local family-owned <a href="http://www.thestatueofliberty.com/evelyn_hill.html" target="_blank">Evelyn Hill Inc</a>., a small company serving up food since 1931, to run concessions.