Downtown

Downtown

Oppositions: Is the Grass Really Greener?

Posted by rs@urbangreenco... on October 27, 2009 - 1:36pm

Date/Time:

November 2, 2009 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm

http://joinus.urbangreencouncil.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=102601
Green Roofs have been touted as the solution to various environmental issues, including the urban heat island effect, storm water overflow and promoting increased biodiversity in the urban environment. White Roofs (reflective roof coatings) and Blue Roofs (rooftop stormwater retention) are less expensive, less complicated alternatives that target some of these same issues but come with their own set of long term performance issues.

Question: Given limited financial resources to address energy efficiency, the heat island effect, stormwater management, and urban biodiversity should government agencies and building owners prioritize green, white or blue roofs?

This highly regarded panel includes designers with direct experience installing the systems under discussion, academics whose research has focused on green roof performance, and policy experts who have grappled with implementation of incentives or mandates related to green roofs.

Introductory Presentation:
A Short History of the Green Roof
Signe Nielsen, Principal, Mathews Nielsen

Moderator:

Tags: Downtown, green roofs

Darby & Darby's Offices at 7 WTC by GKV Architects

Fri

Jun

by Stephen Del Percio

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The intellectual property law firm Darby & Darby moved into the 41st and 42nd floors of LEED Gold-certified 7 World Trade Center last June. Gerner Kronick + Valcarel, Architects ("GKV") designed the firm's 80,000-square-foot space, which includes a stainless steel, tension rod-suspended glass staircase that connects a two-story conference/multi-purpose room. GKV's design emphasizes the natural light provided by 7 WTC's floor to ceiling windows. Stretch fabric ceilings were installed in each of the office's conference rooms and glass sidelights connect perimeter office doors to maximize light penetration into the interior. Darby & Darby signed a 15-year lease for the space; the firm relocated from offices at 805 Third Avenue in Midtown.

7 WTC- Tenant Roster (SP)

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Z100, Q104.3 Settling Into Green Clear Channel Studios in Tribeca

Thu

Jun

by Stephen Del Percio

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Back in late 2006, Texas-based Clear Channel Communications, the radio giant that owns five New York City FM stations, including Z100, Q104.3, and 106.7 Lite-FM, signed a 15-year lease at 32 Avenue of the Americas- formerly known as the AT&T building. The company recently completed a fit-out of the 120,000 square feet it now occupies across the second, third, and fourth floors, where it will pay from $35 per square foot up to $43 over the term of its lease to house the five stations.

Cook + Fox to Perform Green Makeover at "Disturbing" 375 Pearl Street

Wed

May

by Stephen Del Percio

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375 Pearl Street stands at the base of the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge and has been primarily a telephone switching center, most recently for Verizon, since it opened in 1975 to uniformly negative architectural reviews. (Paul Goldberger of the New York Times called the tower "disturbing.") Earlier this week, renderings for a comprehensive, LEED-certified makeover of the 1.3 million-square-foot building, designed by Richard Cook of Cook + Fox, were unveiled. The $350 million rehab, which was reported by Steve Cuozzo of the New York Post yesterday, comes on the heels of Verizon's $172 million sale of most of the building to Taconic Investment Partners (which actually purchased a condominium interest in the tower, as Verizon will retain the 8th through 10th floors).

Monday LEEDoff: Pending Imminent Decision, 50 West Street Could Seek LEED Gold

Mon

Jun

by Stephen Del Percio

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A decision due early this week from downtown’s Community Board 1 will, in part, determine the fate of a proposed sixty-three story, LEED Gold hotel and residential building designed by Helmut Jahn at 50 West Street. Developer Time Equities hopes to stack an additional twenty floors on the forty that it, by law, is permitted to build on the site of a 1912 office tower (image to the left via Downtown Express), which would be razed under the plan. (Time would purchase air rights from above the adjacent Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, as well as include a public plaza in the development along Ward Street that would entitle it to the additional square footage).