Last in the NL East but First in Sustainability?

2006

Oct

1 comment

The Washington Nationals' new $611 million ballpark will go green (HOK rendering below) according to this article. The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission authorized changes to the stadium design, including the $1.2 million it will cost in order to become certified as a "green building." "That was the original design goal, to come up with the very first green sports facility in the country and we think we've done that," D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission spokesman Tony Robinson says. A "green" certification won't cost the city additional money -- the $1.2 million will come from the original $611 million budget. One of the elements that will make the stadium "green" is a filtration system, designed exclusively for the Nationals ballpark. The system will have three different filters: one for general debris, one for stadium debris like peanut shells and candy wrappers, and one for fertilizers. "It will go a long way towards the protection of unwanted runoff into the Anacostia River," Robinson says. HOK is also the architect for the new Yankee Stadium- it will be interesting to see if the Yankees similarly decide to incorporate green stadium elements into their ballpark as well.

Tags: D.C., Washington, HOK, MLB, The Washington Nationals, Green Ballparks, green building, Green Stadiums, Sustainable Stadiums, The National League

Comments

October 9, 2006 - 5:04pm — O.R. (not verified)

Witty post title, but you

Witty post title, but you watch out, in a few years they could be better than the Marlins!

As a Nats ticket holder I think it's great that the stadium plans have green elements, but well I'll just say, I'll believe it when I see it. This stadium is, like most of these things now, over budget and construction has just barely begun. Though they say the green elements will only cost as small amount (relative to the total cost), when construction is running late and money running out, what is more likely to be scrapped, the marble bathrooms in the luxury boxes or the green filtration system? The cynic in my says the filtration system.

(Ok, I'm (slightly) exaggerating about the marble bathrooms, though if there needs to be an illustration of where the priorities lay in stadium building, the current plans call for two levels of luxury boxes, but a water system that denies refrigerated water to the upper deck water fountains.)

If this does come about I think it'll be great, on both a practical level (DC is a city that is surprisingly polluted, the federal gov't hasn't exactly been kind to it and any sort of greening is good) and on a PR level too. The more high profile examples of green buildings the public sees the more likely that green elements become an expected part of any new construction.

So kudos to the DC Sports & Entertainment Commission, at least they put it in the plans....