The USGBC’s New York Chapter sponsors an annual Natural Talent Competition through its Emerging Green Builders of New York organization. This year, participants’ charge was to design a LEED Platinum-level arts center and middle school in DUMBO; concepts were required to also include a proposed revitalization of the areas adjacent to and including the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park’s Tobacco Warehouse, which was originally built in the 1870s as a tobacco customs inspection point along the Brooklyn waterfront. In addition to reaching a projected Platinum rating, entries had to incorporate principles from the LEED for Schools rating system, as well as New York City’s Green Schools Guide and the NY-CHPS High Performance Schools Guidelines.