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American Infrastructure: The Next Generation

Waste Transfer Renovation RenderingA New Life Proposed for a NYC Waste Transfer Station

As efficiency and new societal demands force the evolution of our infrastructural landscape we are consistently constructing new means to service our culture with its fundamental needs. In addition to energy and new virgin resources, the victims of this course of natural selection are often the preceding installations that have lived out their usefulness. The route of demolition and wholesale replacement may have a certain degree of ease when it comes to the planning process, but it creates a missed opportunity in not realizing and capitalizing on the latent energy and lifecycle costs of our existing, retired utilities.

Dubbed “Harlem Harvest”, this theoretical project was charged with exploring a new life for an existing waste transfer station in New York City. The design combines a new bike storage facility, a new kindergarten school and a vertical farming greenhouse, garnished by new floating community garden plots lining the coast. As our proficiency with mixed-use buildings develops we are becoming more aware that the ecology of programs (architect for “uses”) integrated together in a building is just as important as the series of systems needed to make the building function. Continue Reading…

Infrastructural 
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Geo vs. Geo: Which Form of Geothermal Helps the Most

earth power productionThe term “geothermal” describes two similar technologies that operate on different scales. Both are used for harvesting clean energy from the earth. Both yield opportunities for displacing pollution and emissions. The best case would allow for us to pour support into both of these technologies, but the prolonged fragility of the economy prompts the question of which one of these options actually gets us farther? Which should we be encouraging, publicizing and subsidizing? Which gives more bang for the buck? Continue Reading…

Infrastructural 
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Surprised Professionals Become LEED Believers

collaborative designFor those who often take part in sustainable buildings, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) can seem like a mature system that has become a notable part of the industry. At the same time, immersion can make it easy to forget that most of the building industry has yet to do a LEED project. Without a doubt, LEED is still a debated issue in the design and building world, but instead of taking part in the hype the best way to form an educated opinion is by actually taking part in a LEED project. Being on a project team can be illuminating the positive qualities of LEED and how their criteria can be refreshing quality control for our work,  even for seasoned professionals. Continue Reading…

Architectural 
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Sobering Fact: US Offshore Wind Potential is 4x Our Total Power Capacity

[tweetmeme source=”intercongreen”]A new report has been issued buy Wind Powering America, a Department of Energy initiative, that attempts to calculate the total potential energy to be captured off our nation’s coastlines via offshore wind farms. While erecting turbines out away from land has gathered significant support in parts of Europe, America has yet to construct a utility scale offshore wind farm despite a number of proposals remaining in the pipeline such as Cape Wind in Massachusetts. According to the report there is 4,150 GW of generating capacity potential for offshore wind in U.S. waters. If we grouped together all of the generating capacity that exists in the United States at the end of 2009 (including renewables, nuclear and fossil fuels) it would total 1,025 GW–one quarter of the capacity potential that sits off our coastlines. Continue Reading…

Sobering Facts 
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An American in an Average European Town

France Rear GardenAs I move through my European vacation, the inclination to look for evidence of sustainability (or its absence) is all but reflexive. Years ago I wrote about European standards in sustainability being naturally higher than ours in America after I spent a week in London. With the opportunity to venture across the Atlantic again I was eager to see if my second experience would uphold my first impressions.

Though my trip is comprised of a few different stops across the continent, the place where I am spending the most time is Perpignan, France. Located in the south of the country, the small city is about an hour away from Montpellier and a two hour train ride from Barcelona, Spain. At first glance the city fills most of the preconceived notions that the average American would have of a European town: blocks of aged masonry buildings 4 to 6 stories in height, small shops lining slim streets filled with small cars. Around 125,000 people call the city home as of 2009 within an area of a little more than 26 square miles, making it comparable to American cities like Syracuse, New York or Hartford, Connecticut. It seemed to be a fair choice for a random litmus test of European, or at least French, cultural norms. Continue Reading…

Cultural 
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Philadelphia Wants a High Line

reading train high lineA growing contingent of Philadelphia locals are trying to raise a cry for transforming a retired, elevated viaduct into a gardened, pedestrian thoroughfare. Being almost universally regarded as a success, New York City’s High Line is the obvious case study for how the re-purposing of old, industrial relics can transform them into unique, local icons ingrained with authenticity. With clear sustainable advantages pointing to reuse rather than demolition, the urban proposal has important differences from one of New York’s most treasured parks that could make the road to realization long and arduous. Continue Reading…

Infrastructural 
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New York Offers Zoning Changes for Greener Buildings

Building PerspectiveWhen asked, “When should sustainability be integrated into the design process?” most green designers would dutifully say at the very beginning of the project. A better answer is: before the project even starts. Each city has a framework of regulation that may not dictate, but certainly guides the course of development within its limits, managing things like density, occupancy types and height. If building codes wind up at odds with green building efforts then the entire process becomes harder even for the most diligent practitioners. Addressing sustainability at the code level is instrumental to turning standout green projects into the new standard. Continue Reading…

Urban Planning 
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How Many Politicians Does it Take to NOT Screw in a Light Bulb?

New light bulbsThe signing of the federal budget for 2012 marked the latest effort by Republicans to forestall the coming legislation that will begin the phase out of the traditional incandescent bulb. The time and energy spent on debating a law that was signed into being 4 years ago under a Republican President exemplifies the misdirected focus of our elected officials not to mention their blatant disregard (or ignorance) of efficiency’s importance. Thankfully, their tribulations are unlikely to have any material effect on the movement that the forces of American capitalism have been welling behind for years now. Continue Reading…

Political 
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Pulling Data Centers Into Cities

Modern Data StorageIf our telecom network of wire and cable is the veins of the internet then data centers are its organs and they are consistently growing in size and number—a pace that no one thinks is going to slow in the foreseeable future. When it comes to the placement of these digital warehouses, the criteria for locations are equally consistent with new sites often placed out in rural or suburban America. Despite the fact that pedestrians and residents may not have much to do with having a data center down the block, moving them closer to points of higher urban density could let us better utilize all of the resources it takes to run them. Continue Reading…

Infrastructural 
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Challenges of Maintenance to Historic Homes

historic homeDespite the devoted attachment that the majority of Americans have to historic, residential archetypes, the evolution of building materials and practices continue to make it more difficult to maintain our older building stock in an authentic way. Though the ideological split amongst designers for whether new buildings should be crafted in a contemporary or historic image, the industry’s feelings about preserving older buildings that already exist is less contentious. As work performed on these period homes becomes more expensive, so too does it discourage maintenance and upgrades integral to keeping these homes from bleeding energy.

Continue Reading…

Architectural