Greening The Bronx: Historic Renovation of Zoo’s Lion House Seeks LEED Gold

If you haven’t been paying much attention to The Bronx lately (and after the Yankees’ miserable April, I wouldn’t blame you), there’s quite a bit of sustainable construction taking place throughout the borough that’s definitely worth your while.

I’ve written here before about Via Verde, winner of the New Housing New York Legacy Project’s first design competition, which will seek a LEED Gold rating. The Bronx Library Center became the first publicly-funded building in the City to receive LEED certification when it earned Silver back in January, and Majora Carter and her Sustainable South Bronx organization continue to do great work in a variety of capacities across the borough. (There’s still no word on what, if any, sustainable design elements we’ll see at new Yankee Stadium, which is rapidly rising out of the ground across the street from the old ballpark.)

The Bronx Zoo is also catching up to the rest of the borough with a restoration project designed by FXFOWLE. Its Beaux-Arts Lion House building (which has been closed to the public since the Zoo moved the lions outdoors nearly twenty years ago, image above via NY Times), is being converted into an exhibition on the island of Madagascar. The project is part of a larger renovation of the Zoo’s Astor Court, and FXFOWLE hopes to earn LEED Gold for its efforts. The renovation itself is scheduled for completion this summer, while the exhibition itself won’t open until next year (and it sounds like it’ll be worth the wait, especially if you’re into thirteen foot long crocodiles).

The Lion House was originally built in 1903 and is a designated New York City Historic Landmark. The design itself had to carefully balance both a green agenda and an exhibition which features a collection of endangered plant and animal species from Madagascar. These various interests obviously presented FXFOWLE with some real challenges that the firm, predictably, addressed with its usual skill and vision, earning it a 2006 New York City Green Building Award for the $31 million project. The building includes an inflatable plastic skylight which allows UV rays required by the exhibition to reach it. However, the Zoo can also adjust this skylight if necessary to control interior temperatures. A geothermal heating system obviates the need for intrusive heating equipment that might compromise the integrity of the historic structure. Other green features include a graywater system and a fuel cell.

I find it a fascinating juxtaposition that the outer boroughs, both The Bronx and Queens, former manufacturing zones that were the early engines of the City, are really leading the City’s green charge with innovative, complex, and forward-thinking projects. These types of challenging designs that require a true interdisciplinary approach to construction will continue to increase the green capabilities of the industry and cement sustainable building’s place in the mainstream of the industry, both here in New York City and beyond.

• Rebirth at Bronx Zoo (NY Times)