Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York opened up its new Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (”EMPAC”) earlier this month. The university selected Grimshaw Architects as the winner of an international competition to design the 220,000-square-foot EMPAC. RPI is applying for a LEED Silver certification from USGBC for the EMPAC, which is actually built into the side of a hill on the university’s campus. EMPAC includes a 1200-seat concert hall, 400-seat theater, and various studios, A/V production rooms, and artists-in-residence studios. A 100-foot tall glass curtain wall provides interior views of the concert hall, which is clad on the exterior in western red cedar and also supports the building’s roof as a structural element.
October 30th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "Upstate New York"
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.
April 14th, 2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Big Box Stores Jump on the Green Bandwagon
Home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s have kicked up their marketing push for energy-efficient and eco-friendly products sold in their stores, the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, reported earlier this week. Due to increased awareness of issues like sustainability and climate change, as well as rising fuel costs, customers have been requesting projects like energy-saving light bulbs, efficient insulation, and energy-saving appliances in record numbers. Natedra Banks, the senior manager of environmental innovation for Home Depot, told the paper that “builders, in general, want to know which products would give them more LEED credits, and you also have those people who want to know what they can do it themselves to make an impact on the environment.”
March 28th, 2008 | Meredith Taylor | 0 comments | Continued