After four years of construction the world’s most sustainable skyscraper is nearly completed! Situated at One Bryant park in Midtown Manhattan, the crystalline structure will be the first high-rise to receive LEED Platinum certification. Designed for Bank of America by Cook+Fox Architects and Gensler and developed by The Durst Organization, the luminous spire will introduce a dose of levity to New York’s skyline while incorporating an excellent assortment of sustainable strategies.
Designed to respond to dense urban conditions, One Bryant Park aims “to enhance the health and productivity of its tenants, reduce waste, and promote environmental sustainability”. The 54-story high rise interfaces seamlessly at the street level where it improves pedestrian and transit circulation with widened sidewalks, through-block passageways, and an urban garden room.
From there the skyscraper rises with a soaring facade composed of floor-to-ceiling high-performance glass that insulates the structure while saturating its interiors with daylight. An under-floor air delivery system efficiently provides for natural ventilation, while an on-site co-generation plant provides the structure with power and heat. The high rise is also able to capture and reuse rain and waste water to fulfill nearly all of its needs, which will allow it to save 10.3 million gallons of water each year. Finally, the skyscraper is constructed through and through with low VOC, reclaimed, and recycled materials sourced within 500 miles of New York City.
+ Cook+Fox Architects
+ The Durst Organization
+ Gensler
Via World Architecture News
Nice building. Futuristic in its design.
One really shouldn’t use a headline like, “The First LEED Platinum Skyscraper…”, or a descriptive phrase like, “will be the first high-rise to receive LEED Platinum certification”, for a building which has not been actually certified yet.
It feeds into a arms race of exaggerated PR claims, which just doesn’t help the factual basis of real sustainability. And it is unfair to projects (and publishers) who avoid such hyperbole. Finally, it devalues the certification process, and the authentic brand value of LEED certification, by taking it for granted and short-cutting the appropriate time for recognition.
I know what you’re getting at Architecture week, yes it is factually inaccurate if certification has no in fact been granted. When this is a factual article, a misleading headline does detract somewhat from the content. There is far too much hype in the world already.
That said, a headline doesn’t always have to be factual, but can simply be used to set a tone or foreshadow aspects of the article. After all a headline’s purpose is primarily not to report information but to grab attention. You should see some of the headlines I use on my blog – I use them to hint at the post’s themes, to attract readers, to set tone, to play devil’s advocate, to provoke thought, to be controversial, to raise awareness… the list goes on.
As for the building, the statistics are very impressive – as is the structure itself. However, I’d like to have seen some stats on how much this building actually cost, plus the expected savings from its green technology, compared to how much a comparably sized skyscraper would cost without all the green technology. Basically, is this one cheaper in the long run? If so, then where is the argument for all buildings not to be built like this? If it’s more expensive, then what government initiatives could be implemented to offset some of those costs for the sake of the environment?
Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller ‘What if…?’
” … the luminous spire will introduce a dose of levity to New York’s skyline …”
No! Not “levity!” It is on days like this that I imagine a future in which ideas are conveyed by video and no one remembers what words mean, much less how to apply them.
Levity. n : lightness of mind, character, or behavior; lack of appropriate seriousness or earnestness.
This is exactly the opposite of what the author had hoped to convey.
That is just way too cool
http://www.FireMe.To/udi