New York

You may recall that, back in December, the East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board approved Bates Masi Architects' controversial design for a modern two-story green office building at 132 North Main Street in East Hampton that would seek an unspecified level of LEED certification from USGBC. In a last ditch effort to stop the project from proceeding, a group of local residents have filed a lawsuit against the Board in Supreme Court for Suffolk County, alleging that it was negligent in approving the design and requesting that the court review and overturn the Board's determination. The court will hear oral argument in the coming weeks and either affirm or overturn the decision, or send the matter back to the Board for further review. The thrust of the plaintiffs' argument is that the Board "consistently ignored the evidence completely" with respect to the historic characteristics of neighboring buildings when considering the 132 North Main Street application. Under the controlling East Hampton zoning ordinance, the Board is required to deny designs that are "excessively dissimilar" to the character of the town.

The Rhinebeck, New York-based Omega Institute for Holistic Studies announced last week that it has broken ground on its Omega Center for Sustainable Living. The OCSL is aiming for a LEED Platinum rating and was designed by Kansas City-based BNIM Architects, the firm responsible for the new master plan for Greensburg, Kansas. During Greenbuild 2007, Omega won a Living Building Challenge "On the Boards Award" for the OCSL and, once completed, the Center will be the first Living Building on the East Coast. (Note that the Living Building Challenge is sponsored by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, was introduced during Greenbuild 2006 in Denver, and BNIM has been involved with the program from its inception).

The $15 million Media Arts Lab at the Jacob Burns Film Center is on track for one of Westchester County’s first LEED Gold ratings from USGBC. Designed by Mount Kisco-based Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson Architects & Engineers, the 27,000-square-foot Media Arts Lab will provide hands-on education for both the public and fellows, expanding on the numerous classroom offerings at the Film Center.

The project broke ground approximately 18 months ago and includes a number of green design features, including a geothermal heating and cooling system, radiant heating, natural daylighting, a green roof, and recycled-content structural materials. The Jacob Burns Film Center has operated since 2001, screens both independent and international films, and hosts industry guest speakers, including directors, actors, and authors.

The Media Arts Lab is located across the street from Metro North and is just a block down from the Film Center itself.

You may recall One Jackson Square , a 36-unit, 11-story condominium project under construction in the West Village that will seek an unspecified level of LEED certification from USGBC. The project, co-developed by Hines and RFR, was designed by KPF principal William Pedersen and sits on an irregularly-shaped 10,697 square foot floor plate on the stretch of Greenwich Avenue between West 13th and 14th Streets. Recently, Mr. Pederson participated in a charity auction for the Animal Medical Center by designing a dog house inspired by his architecture at One Jackson Square.

Notwithstanding the condo’s luxury finishes, Pedersen’s design concept was to take a simple box and mimic some of the architectural features of the LEED-hopeful project. The 20-square-foot kennel features a green roof, the same Baltic birch plywood that will ultimately grace the One Jackson Square lobby, and was constructed using the same digital carving process as the real thing.