Manhattan-based GreenbergFarrow Architects recently completed the 346,000-square-foot IKEA in Red Hook, Brooklyn; it’s the tenth such store that the firm has designed. Lost in the hoopla surrounding the Swedish giant’s first New York City retail outlet is that the Red Hook iteration is applying for a LEED Silver rating predicated on a number of green design elements. The Red Hook IKEA sits on the site of a former brownfield and demolition of existing, Civil War-era buildings required significant asbestos abatement efforts. However, perhaps the most exciting green design features are those that most folks will never get to see.
November 10th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "photovoltaics"
Litchfield House: Zero Energy Saltbox in Connecticut
The saltbox is one of the country’s oldest home construction techniques and an excellent example of American colonial architecture. Dating from the 1600s across New England, the saltbox’s shed roof and single story would face north with little to no glass in an effort to deflect winter winds. The two-story side of the design faced south, using large windows to passively collect solar energy. The Litchfield House is an effort to implement the principles of the historical saltbox using modern green building techniques. Perhaps the biggest difference in the Litchfield House from a traditional saltbox is that the house’s large roof faces south instead of north, allowing a rooftop photovoltaic system to collect nearly 13,000 watts of solar power annually.
August 3rd, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Rotating, Self-Powered, Prefab “Dynamic Tower” May Twist into Manhattan
The Dynamic Tower- a 1380-foot, rotating residential high-rise, will break ground in Dubai within a few months, according to Italian architect David Fisher, who discussed details about the project at a press conference today at the Plaza Hotel in Midtown. According to Dr. Fisher, a second Dynamic Tower will soon follow in Moscow with a third to come here in New York City. Although he did not provide specific details, Fisher noted that he is already talking to developers about bringing the concept to Gotham.
June 24th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 2 comments | Continued
Monday LEEDoff: First LEED-Certified Museum in New York- Adirondack Park’s Wild Center
Located deep Upstate in Adirondack Park, the Wild Center/Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks is the first museum in New York State to receive a LEED rating, earning Silver from USGBC last week. The $30 million facility opened back in July of 2006 and primarily presents exhibitions about the Adirondacks’ human history. The Wild Center is also the first LEED-certified building in Adirondack Park of any kind, which at 6 million acres is larger than the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
February 11th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued