Today, no firm that says it pursues ‘design excellence’ can offer that statement with veracity, unless it is profoundly engaged in environmental/sustainable and human centered design. Interestingly, these three qualities of ‘green’ design were intuitively understood by architects before the era of mechanical systems, fluorescent lighting and hydrocarbon technology, and are reflected, still, in the finest buildings that pre-date the 1939 World’s Fair ‘Building the World of Tomorrow’ era.

Those building professionals, however, lacked the tools – the innovative materials and high performance systems – that illuminate the current work of prescient architects, the best of whom are creating projects that enhance quality of life and conserve finite natural resources, while restoring ecological balance, environmental quality and biodiversity where these have been polluted or lost.

Understanding that this new paradigm is a philosophy, not just a handful of uncoordinated strategies or technologies, requires the design team to engage in a process of full accountability for all decisions made during the design and construction process. An awareness of sustainable options and progressive technologies – the up-stream impacts of these design decisions, building systems, materials selection, etc. – as well as an understanding of the construction process impacts, and the occupancy, maintenance and operation of the building (the down-stream effects), ensures that a fully considered, environmentally preferable filter is used to inform every decision and to optimize opportunities far beyond the merely adequate.

This approach calls for an integrated team approach, where every member participates in the development of the agenda, understands the Client’s goals and contributes to the achievement of the design.

Seminal Works

Natural Resources Defense Council HQ (1989), New York City
The lighting system at NRDC became the prototype for the New York’s, citywide “Enlightened Energy” program – the first rebate system, which gave birth to the United States EPA’s ‘Green Lights’ program.

Natural Resources Defense Council

Audubon House (1992), New York City
Audubon House, with its associated book, was the subject of a public television documentary called ‘Building Green - In Pursuit of Sustainable Architecture and Energy Efficiency’ in 1995.

National Audubon Society Headquarters

Achievements

• Recipient of the first two National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST) grants for the National Green Demonstration Projects for the development of Columbia University’s Geochemistry Facility at Lamont-Doherty, and the New England Aquarium, Boston, MA, as sustainable projects.

(Note that these four projects constitute a critical mass of innovation in this developing field that changed both the art and science of architecture, and was recognized by the USGBC in 2005 when the firm was the recipient of their National Leadership Award.)

• Development of the Large Chamber Testing protocol for furniture that is now used by Greenguard and subsequently LEED (and multiple other testing facilities) for the EPA Headquarters project in Washington, DC, from 1994-2002.


• Development of the World Trade Center Sustainable Design Guidelines (SDG) in 2004 for the redevelopment of the entire World Trade Center site for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. These guidelines were the first to incorporate urban strategies for enhanced neighborhood quality, pedestrian infrastructure, reduction and control of construction-generated pollution, noise and vibration at the site, as well as addressing issues of human outdoor comfort.


• Development of the World Trade Center SDG Reference Manual in 2005 for the Port Authority, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA): this four-hundred page reference provides all architects working in Lower Manhattan with detailed information about the site, its history and the sustainable initiatives that must be incorporated in the development of the site and its buildings.


• Achieved the First LEED® Gold rating (2004) in the State of Florida for Rinker Hall at the University of Florida. Rinker Hall was developed in parallel with the growth of USGBC and LEED® (2000 to 2003) and due to its success with students, faculty and administration, the Gainesville campus has now adopted LEED Silver as the minimum standard going forward. Importantly, the project was completed at campus benchmark cost for its building type.


• Achieved First LEED Gold (2008) for an academic or laboratory building in New York State for Johnson Hall at St. Lawrence University. The highly sophisticated Bio/Chemistry laboratory building designed in association with Kling/Stubbins accomplishes a 98% reduction in stormwater discharge, 40% reduction in water use, 24% reduction in annual energy usage, a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions, and 12-month payback on all sustainable strategies. All of this was achieved for a construction cost 30% below regional benchmark for the building type.