The Architecture of the City

The first net zero energy school in New York State broke ground today; the school, located on a 3.5-acre site in Richmond, Staten Island, will be a 444-seat primary school.

Roger Duffy, FAIA, SOM Design Partner and head of the firm’s Education Lab called this project, “an extraordinary opportunity to help define the next generation of energy efficient school buildings for New York City and beyond.”
Bruce Barrett, Vice President of Architecture & Engineering described the intentions for this project: Using this unique project as a vehicle, the SCA (New York City School Construction Authority) will explore new and higher levels of sustainability by embarking on the construction of a Net Zero Energy School Building. Recognizing Mayor Bloomberg’s and New York City’s commitment to sustainability in general, and to energy conservation specifically, we have challenged ourselves to go beyond building code and design standards to realize innovative energy and carbon reductions exceeding our current achievements. We want to push the envelope on this advanced green project, which will be our ‘sustainability lab.’

View more renderings and find more details at the article link.

In the building industry, greenwashing is a constant challenge.

World-renowned architect Ken Yeang explains that bioclimatic architecture is a way to practice green building in a way that cuts through the greenwash, representing truly environmentally responsible, sustainable design.

In an interview with CNN, Yeang cites nature as his ‘biggest source of inspiration’ and notes that he has taken well-developed design principles from the natural world for more than 30 years. The concept of bioclimatic architecture encourages the intermingling of natural and built spaces, with the latter taking the former into the highest consideration.

Yeang states decisions made at the design stage can drastically cut carbon and eliminate future environmental issues.
“If 80% of the impact is caused by design, you can anticipate the impact at that stage and you can reduce the impact from 80% to the minimum.”
The architect cites finding a balance between the built and the natural as a key to mastering bioclimatic design. By balancing natural components with the artificial in a built development, a large-scale building can be offset by the number of plants and natural vegetation included throughout...

It’s a testament to the ebbing tide of starchitecture that some of the most admired new buildings of recent memory are the ones you hardly notice at all.

The design brief called for a very low-impact, easy to maintain summer home that provides necessary programmatic functions with minimum distractions from the land and the view. The design response situates the structure among mature fir trees located directly between the beach and an upland meadow, with walls of glass opening out to both. Steel columns minimize visible structure from the interior, while metal-clad wall elements provide a bold form when seen from the exterior. The roof is vegetated, which filters rainwater that in turn is collected and stored for use in irrigation. Potable hot water and hydronic heating are aided by solar collectors on the roof, and PV panel s above the vegetable garden provide supplemental electricity. The home is intended for occupancy from May through October, and systems have been designed to zero out electricity use over the course of a full year.