Monday LEEDoff: Art Omi Visitors Center & Gallery- Ghent, New York

The Omi International Arts Center is a non-profit institution in Ghent, New York that provides working residency for international artists of various mediums. Since 1998, it’s also been the home of The Fields Sculpture Park, which is open year-round to the public and provides outdoor exhibition space for contemporary works of art and sculpture. The $1.2 million Charles B. Benenson Visitors Center & Gallery, which will officially open on June 21, recently earned Columbia County, New York’s first (though unspecified) LEED rating. The 4300-square-foot building was designed by F:T Architecture + Interiors, whose principals Peter Franck and Kathleen Triem did not initially contemplate pursuing the designation. “It took very little redesign,” Mr. Franck said with regard to the subsequent decision to apply for the rating. “The building had a lot of the elements already.”

Mr. Franck and Ms. Triem have been the sculpture curators at The Fields for the past ten years, where they’ve explored how man-made objects might interact with their surrounding natural environment. Their green building efforts at the Visitors Center are a logical extension of that exploration, and the project includes a number of significant green design features. The Center has a 2.5 inch thick living roof, and photovoltaics on an adjacent gazebo provide it with 10 kilowatts of electricity. Fifty percent of construction materials were sourced within 500 miles of the project site, and recycled structural elements were used wherever possible, including blue jean insulation and recycled concrete countertops. All of the Center’s interior lights are fitted with occupancy sensors, and bathrooms include dual flush fixtures and showers for bike commuters.

The project, which broke ground back in the fall of 2006, cost approximately $300 per square foot to construct and is named for long-standing Omi supporter Charles B. Benenson, who passed away in 2004. Mr. Benenson was actively involved with a number of New York City charities, including the Inner Cities Scholarship Fund, Chess in the Schools, United Cerebral Palsy, and the New York Junior Tennis League.

• Omi Picks Green Option (Indenews.com)

• Art Omi

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