The Upper West Side’s Calhoun School at 433 West End Avenue (at West 81st Street) was the first school in New York City to install a green roof. Its Green Roof Learning Center, which opened back in 2005, was part of a four-story, FXFOWLE-designed addition to the school’s main building. On Thursday, October 23, Calhoun is offering a free tour of the Learning Center and roof; the school estimates that the roof prevents around 26,000 gallons of water runoff per year. Representatives from FXFOWLE will also be available to discuss how the roof was designed, constructed, and maintained, as well as the Center’s vegetable garden, weather station, and worm composting facilities. The Green Schools Alliance (of which Calhoun is a member) was created by schools and requires potential members to sign a climate commitment pledge in order to join.
October 20th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | ContinuedUWS
Upper West Side’s First Green Condo Complete on 72nd Street
We’ve written previously about the Harsen House; the 16-story, 22-unit project at 120 West 72nd Street broke ground in late 2006 and developer Anbau Enterprises sold the project out within a scant seven months. The building was designed by BKSK Architects (designers of the Queens Botanical Garden Visitor’s Center, which recently earned Gotham’s first LEED Platinum rating) with interiors by Andres Escobar. Green design elements include hot water radiant heat, FSC-certified oak floors, ducted kitchen hoods which ventilate air directly outdoors, and energy-efficient, floor to ceiling windows. Anbau recently announced that it has completed the 60,000-square-foot project after inking retail heavyweight Sleepy’s (The Mattress Professionals) to a long-term lease for the Harsen House’s 4000-square-foot ground-floor retail space.
July 21st, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Sustainable Home(less) on the Upper West Side
Green materials and energy-efficient appliances are par for the course when the client is paying over $1,000 per square foot. Fortunately, thanks to socially-concerned and eco-conscious designers and suppliers, sustainably-built habitats need not be exclusive. The basement of the Broadway Presbyterian Church in Morningside Heights serves as a homeless outreach hub shared by several organizations. One of them, Care of the Homeless (”CFH”), a non-profit providing free medical services to the homeless, received a small federal grant to renovate its 500-square-foot medical facility in the basement, where “medical staff was performing medical exams in a rather crowded closet.” The New York affiliate of Architecture for Humanities (AFHny), the non-profit network of designers behind dozens of rebuilding efforts from Sri Lanka to New Orleans, came on board, as did several eco-conscious suppliers that chipped in free or discounted materials.
April 10th, 2008 | Alex Padalka | 0 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff: Green Retail, Rentals Set for 72nd and Broadway
It appears that the Harsen House won’t be the only LEED-certified project that will rise along West 72nd Street. According to a report that appeared in Friday’s Real Deal, 200 West 72nd Street will seek an unspecified level of LEED certification for 196 luxury rental units and 48,000 square feet of retail space which [...]
January 14th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued