The “Jolly Green Giant” has planted his feet firmly on Times Square and is shouldering his way upward into the Manhattan skyline.
When fully grown, this giant–actually an office tower now under construction–will be 48 stories high.
Size, though, is not important; it is the “green-ness” that is creating a buzz around the Big Apple.
While the color of the new 1.6 million-square-foot skyscraper will not be green, it will be packed with plenty of environmentally responsible green components.
It will even generate some of its own electricity–enough to light the glitzy neon signs on the lower floors at Times Square. Solar panels on the sides of the building and fuel cells on the roof will create the power.
“This is the next generation of energy-efficient high-rise buildings,” said Daniel Kaplan, project director for the designer, Fox & Fowle Architects of New York.
Originally called 4 Times Square (its address) and to be known as the Conde Nast Building (for one of its major tenants), the skyscraper is part of the naughty-to-nice transformation of the once sleazy midtown neighborhood.
“It will be an incredibly visible building,” predicted William Browning, founder of green development services at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colo., and a consultant on the Times Square project. He defines green development as “the integration of ecology and real estate.”
Because of its prime location–the “Crossroads of the World,” as New Yorkers call Times Square–the new tower is expected to be a beacon for the green movement.
Many envirnomentalists expect it to spur green development across the country. In fact, the green paint brush already has touched several new projects, including some in the Chicago area.
The new village hall to be constructed in south suburban Matteson will be green, as will be the new Tuthill Corp. office/training facility in west suburban Burr Ridge.
One of the architects involved in the Matteson project believes the increasing use of green technologies will have even more impact in the residential market than in the commercial.
“Owners of green homes will get lower utility bills and much more. Their houses will perform better, last longer, be of higher quality and survive storms and hurricanes better,” said Randolph Croxton, president of Croxton Collaborative Architects, New York.
Current green residential projects in the Chicago area include Prairie Crossing, a conservation-oriented community in Grayslake, and the soon-to-be-launched HomeTown of Waterford in Aurora.
Bigelow Homes, long an advocate of energy-efficient housing, will build HomeTown of Waterford.
“These will be green houses in a green community,” said Perry Bigelow, president.
The land plan of the 140-acre, 1,000-home development calls for 80 percent of the residences to face north or south.
“This will be a tremendous advantage in wintertime because of the gain in heat and light,” said Bigelow. “The worst way to site a home is east and west, because in summer the sun beats in both morning and afternoon, necessitating increased use of air conditioning.”
He added that all the windows at HomeTown of Waterford will be double paned with an argon gas filling. In addition, the exterior walls will have 50 percent more insulation than the average home.
The single-family homes will range from about $100,000 to $170,000. Though priced slightly higher than similar non-green houses (because of the windows and insulation), they will provide energy savings from the beginning, paying for all the green extras in three years, according to Bigelow.
He added that some other builders across the country are constructing green homes, and “the home building industry has made great strides in energy efficiency since 1980.”
Meanwhile, plans are being finalized for the new Matteson village hall, a $3.5 million project to be set on a six-acre site that will feature a pond, walkways, amphitheater for pubic events and landscaping with native Midwestern wildflowers and grasses.
Completion of the the complex is expected by late fall of 1998. It will be located just east of Interstate Highway 57 and north of 205th Street.
The design is a joint effort of two architectural firms that specialize in green projects: Prisco Serena Sturm of Northbrook and Croxton Collaborative.
William Sturm, director of sustainable (green) research at Prisco Serena Sturm, said the new hall and its grounds will be sensitive to the environment in use of lighting, air quality and landscaping–all aimed at reducing energy costs.
Sturm estimated that these savings will pay for the cost of the green features in five years.
Matteson decided to go green in order to improve the work environment, according to Ralph Coglianese, Matteson’s village administrator. He added that it is hoped that the new facility will serve as a model for other municipal buildings in the Chicago area.
The 25,000-square-foot village hall, long and narrow, will face south with a wall of 12-foot-high windows. With glazing to keep the sun’s heat out, the windows will flood the interior with daylight, a process that will be enhanced by light shelves. Photo sensors will automatically dim the electric lights when the natural light reaches a certain level.
During the day, the council chamber will be illuminated by natural light from the light tower above it.
The village hall complex won’t contribute to downstream flooding because a wetland will be created to soak up storm water runoff, according to Sturm.
The village hall is envisioned as the focal point for a new village center, with the construction of buildings with street-level retail, and offices and apartments above.
Another new green project by Prisco Serena Sturm is the 33,000-square-foot office for the Tuthill Corp. in Burr Ridge. It will feature 2 1/2 stories of glass facing south, and parking underneath.
“A few years ago, there was little interest in green construction,” Sturm said. “Now everybody is seeing it as a potential marketing advantage. They view it as a way of avoiding sick building syndrome (an ailment often attributed to building-material chemicals and bad ventilation, among other things).
“Plus, green buildings generate a productive atmosphere. Employees like to work there, productivity is up and absenteeism is down.”
However, a possible drag on the blooming of a green revolution could be the extra cost of design. “Sometimes the fees are not high enough to cover the increased costs,” said Sturm.
But he added that the Rocky Mountain Institute has developed a performance concept. Architects are paid a standard fee for a green design, but later share in the savings from the building’s energy efficiency.
The potential for profit will continue to drive the trend toward more green development, according to architect Croxton.
“In the `70s, the green movement was regarded as the right thing to do, but too expensive. Now, it’s not save the earth, but a move toward quality construction. Waste and inefficiency have begun to hit the bottom line,” Croxton said.
Another major architectural firm that has jumped on the green bandwagon is St. Louis-based HOK (Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc.).
“Green is on a roll. In the last two years, it has emerged into the mainstream,” said Sandra Mendler, of HOK’s Washington office.
The firm says it is committed to designing buildings that are environmentally sensitive by using natural resources more efficiently, reducing air and water pollution and protecting ecosystems and wildlife.
Among HOK’s recent green designs is the 250,000-square-foot S.E. Johnson Wax headquarters in Racine, Wis.
“Our focus is to move toward green in all our projects; that’s the direction of the industry,” said Bill O’Dell, senior vice president at HOK.
In New York, architect Kaplan of Fox & Fowle views the green aspects of the Conde Nast Building as “a real attraction. This is the wave of the future, and tenants in other buildings are going to demand it.”
As a symbol of the surging economy, it is the first speculative high-rise office tower to be built in New York City in almost a decade. Completion of its street-level retail is expected by Christmas 1998, with the rest of the building to open in 1999.
The tab for the project is about $300 million–5 to 7 percent more expensive because of the green elements, but the payback time for them is estimated at three to five years because of lower energy costs and other benefits.
The developer, the New York-based Durst Organization, has high hopes for the green giant.
“It is our intention that 4 Times Square establish a new benchmark for environmental responsibility in commercial real estate. It is an office tower with the features and technologies that sophisticated tenants will increasingly demand in the 21st Century,” said Douglas Durst, president.
Kaplan described some of the special green features of the state-of-the-art structure:
– On-site electrical generation. Photovoltaic cells located in the upper, unshaded portions of the building’s skin will supply almost 2 percent of the electricity needs.
But much more power will be made by eight fuel cells on the roof. These natural gas batteries will generate clean power via a chemical reaction, with no combustion involved.
“One of the great ironies is that we’re doing a green building, but it requires a huge amount of electricity for the massive signage on the first three floors, plus a 10-story `can’ that probably will become a giant soft drink ad,” said Kaplan.
Fortunately, the power for the neon signs will be supplied by the fuel cells and photovoltaic panels.
– Lighting. To provide the greatest amount of daylight penetration into the interior, large windows (seven feet high) were selected. Daylight dimming sensors also will be installed. The windows will utilize the latest low-E coating on double glazing.
– Indoor air quality. Although the developers could not force a smoke-free policy on the tenants, the industrial-strength air conditioning system will be able to purge any three floors simultaneously with 100 percent outside air. Air will be inducted at high elevations, avoiding as much street exhaust as possible.
– Recycling. Multiple trash chutes will be provided for automated recycling of daily waste.
Despite the efforts to erect a building with the environment in mind, perhaps all New Yorkers are not happy with their new green giant. Clearing the site at Broadway and 42nd Street, Kaplan said, required the demolition of a historic part of America’s culinary environment–the original Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs.
