It's not often we hear about Staten Island on the cutting edge of green building. But the oft-forgotten borough is home to at least two bold new LEED projects currently underway: a police station and a mixed-use riverfront.
The NYPD's 121st Precinct Stationhouse has been designed pursuant to Local Law 86, which requires most new city-owned or operated buildings to obtain at least a LEED Silver rating. There is presently scant information available about the 47,000-square-foot, Rafael Vinoly-designed project, which will be the first LEED Silver police precinct in the city. The cantilevered structure extends linearly out from the site’s irregular footprint, connecting the public both to the natural landscape behind the precinct and, symbolically, to the NYPD housed within. The project team also includes Weidlinger Associates, which was retained to engineer a new stormwater system. The engineers tailored the system to the three-acre site's topography, using vegetative swells as sediment removers, which reduces the release rate and prevents sewer system flooding. As you’ll recall, Vinoly also designed the eye-catching, electric yellow Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights, which is also seeking LEED certification.
Weidlinger was also brought on board the Stapleton Model Neighborhood- a LEED for Neighborhood Development ("LEED-ND") Pilot Project. The former Navy homeport site, given to New York in 1993, has rail service, nearby ferry service, and, of course, the views. The Economic Development Corporation is currently looking for a developer for the project, which will include three separate areas offering 350 residential units, offices and commercial space, as well as a banquet hall and skating rink. Adapting a design in place before USGBC announced the LEED-ND Pilot Program, the engineers incorporated storm water management, pavement permeability, and, most curiously, site lighting that actually reduces "night sky pollution"- for those views, of course.
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Staten Island Museum follows
Staten Island Museum follows founders footsteps by building green
Founded in 1881, one of the last intact examples of the first type of public museum in America, the Staten Island Museum outgrew it current quarters at St. George as the borough grew in population and diversity. Plans to expand began in 1965, when the Museum leadership worked in concert with the Landmarks Commission to save the early 19th century Greek-Revival buildings at Snug Harbor Cultural Center campus from demolition. Today, with almost $16 million in City Capital funds secured, the Staten Island Museum plans to open the first major art museum on the Island, in a modern, fully climate controlled environment, housed within the walls of one of the triple land-marked front five buildings, Building A. As an environmental pioneer, the Staten Island Museum is aiming to meet at minimum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification. The project is currently in the Design Development Phase with Gluckman Mayner Architects and is under the management of both the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC). Groundbreaking is planned for April 2009 with the formal opening of the art museum scheduled to follow two years later in 2010.
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