A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces, which include swimming pools, a gymnasium, theater, classrooms, recreation, and dance spaces. The glass wall will be fitted with an LED light display, designed in conjunction with Tillotson Design Associates, that illuminates to a music score entitled “Water,” by New York composer Michael Schumacher. Schumacher’s score will also be etched on the center’s façade as a bar code; the music can be heard within the building only when an app is downloaded into a smartphone. The building is targeting LEED Platinum. Other green features include pool filters that clean water using minimal chemicals and minimize water waste, graywater recycling, and native landscaping. Stalco Construction is the contractor.
Related Stories
| May 3, 2012
U of Michigan team looking to create highly efficient building envelope designs
The system combines the use of sensors, novel construction materials, and utility control software in an effort to create technology capable of reducing a building’s carbon footprint.
| May 3, 2012
Best commercial modular buildings and marketing programs recognized
Judges scored entries on architectural excellence, technical innovation, cost effectiveness, energy efficiency, and calendar days to complete.
| May 3, 2012
Zero Energy Research Lab opens at North Texas
The living lab—the only one of its kind in Texas—is designed to test various technologies and systems in order to achieve a net-zero consumption of energy.
| May 3, 2012
NSF publishes ANSI standard evaluating the sustainability of single ply roofing membranes
New NSF Standard provides manufacturers, specifiers and building industry with verifiable, objective criteria to identify sustainable roofing products.
| May 3, 2012
Gilbane to provide CM services for North Reading’s integrated middle/high school
The project scope includes a wastewater treatment plant, demolition of the existing high school and extensive athletic fieldwork.
| May 3, 2012
Ground broken for $94 million hospital expansion at Scripps Encinitas
New facility to more than double emergency department size, boost inpatient beds by 43%.
| May 3, 2012
Rudolph and Sletten, Inc. wins CMAA award
Firm recognized for the renovation of Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College’s Student Administrative & Griffin Student Center.
| May 2, 2012
Trimble acquires SketchUp 3D modeling platform
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.
