Battery Park City

[IT] Il progetto rispecchia la visione di un centro le cui attività per la comunità sono completamente trasparenti. Il progetto di rinnovo degli impianti riflette questo impegno per la sostenibilità: le lastre del pavimento sono elementi fondamentali nel sistema di riscaldamento e raffreddamento; la disposizione e la fattura delle facciate contribuiscono alla messa a punto di un sistema di ventilazione e illuminazione eco compatibile. The project will be the new headquarters for the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy who maintains approximately 36 acres of open space within Battery Park City including gardens, playgrounds, dog runs, playing fields, and walkways. In addition to maintaining the parkland, the Conservancy runs extensive educational and cultural programs including street fairs, concerts, art classes, and educational programs on sustainable horticulture. The Conservancy is an integral part of the Battery Park City community and the project design reflects the vision of a service facility whose operations are as fully transparent to the community as their outdoor operations. Sustainability is a central tenant of the Conservancy’s operations: the horticultural staff uses organic fertilizer and collects waste from local stores to incorporate into their composting operations. The programming staff runs workshops on sustainable horticulture. The design of the Maintenance Facility reflects this commitment to sustainability and epitomizes design integration: the floor slabs are ground coupled and serve as heating and cooling elements; the façade functions as part of the ventilation and lighting systems and operates based on time of year and outside conditions. The Facility is currently in construction and will consolidate and replace much of the Conservancy’s current indoor and outdoor operations. The $16 million, 43,600 square feet Facility will be within the first 4 floors of a larger residential development known as the “Visionaire” located in the South Neighborhood of Battery Park City. The residential development is being built by another development team and will be built to the Battery Park City Authority’s Environmental Guidelines. The Maintenance Facility is projecting a LEED Platinum rating once the project is complete. The project will also be fully compliant with Battery Park City Authority’s sustainable guidelines. The residential developer is providing the core and shell portions of the project that will result in a symbiotic relationship between the residential building and Maintenance Facility. Examples include the exterior skin of the building and the basic mechanical infrastructure for the facility. The building exterior seamlessly integrates the residential portions of the building and the Maintenance Facility through the use of a high-performance, terra-cotta and aluminum curtain wall. The core and shell work also includes a geothermal system dedicated to the Maintenance Facility that will be used for heating and cooling through radiant surfaces and air handling units. The residential building and Maintenance Facility will also co-exist through treated black water and grey water systems. The treated waste water from the residences will be used to wash down vehicles and the grey water will be used to flush toilets in the Facility. The Facility will also house a NYC Department of Sanitation compactor within a dedicated, ground floor storage space. The compactor will serve as a collection area for the neighboring buildings to deposit their waste. The use of the compactor will keep bagged garbage off the street and help mitigate pest issues in the neighborhood. The program elements of the Maintenance Facility include: • A large, central atrium that serves as a staging area for daily operations. The atrium provides daylight and views for the majority of the occupied spaces. The glazed south wall of the atrium will allow the public to view the day-to-day operations within the Facility. • A large composting area that accepts waste stream from the local grocery store and materials collected through horticulture operations. The mature compost is then redistributed throughout the parkland in planting beds. A compost tea is also generated to minimize the use of fertilizer. • A double-glazed walkway at the second, third, and fourth floors. This walkway serves as a thick insulator to capture and release solar gain in the cooling season, capture and utilize solar gain in the heating season, and provide ventilation air in an economizer mode. • Vehicle storage and repair areas for the operations vehicles. The majority of the Park Conservancy’s vehicle fleet is electric. These vehicles are recharged at off peak times to reduce peak demand on the grid. • Low density storage areas and a high-bay (high density) storage warehouse. • Specialized storage for pesticide and fertilizer (both organic). • Wood and metal shops. • Staff lockers and showers. • Drying lockers for use after work shifts during inclement weather. • Paint spray and paint removal booths. • Supply and prep rooms for art and nature classes. • Administrative offices. • Community space for use by local community groups. This facility is a unique combination of service uses and staff offices. The project provides a workhorse facility that is very sensitive to occupant comfort of the staff who typically work most of the day outdoors, unprotected from the elements. Measures to address occupant comfort include the radiant floor heating, perimeter radiant ceiling panels, and a high level of temperature & lighting control for occupants throughout the facility. Through hosting community events, education of the public, leading through exemplary practices, and providing a healthy working environment, the Conservancy is truly integrated into their community. Their new headquarters is designed to facilitate their day-to-day operations and help them fulfill their mission. Design Criteria: The project team sought to go beyond standard sustainable practices and did so when practical for the unique nature of the Maintenance Facility. Sustainable Sites The project site is in Lower Manhattan with development density, community connectivity, and access to public transportation that would be expected in a dense urban environment. The ground floor includes charging stations for the Conservancy’s fleet of electric vehicles as well as storage for bicycles for staff use during their shifts. The facility supports the conservancy’s mission of maintaining Battery Park City’s glorious landscape in a sustainable way that contributes only positively to the local environment. Additionally, the facility is within a residential building that is being designed to comply with the Battery Park City Authority Environmental Guidelines and is targeting Platinum certification under the LEED NB program. Bike racks, showers, lockers, and changing rooms are provided for the staff. Energy The design of the Park’s Conservancy Maintenance Facility achieves its energy goals with energy efficient measures that are incorporated into the facility in a cost effective manner through design integration between the architecture, structure and engineering systems: the floor slabs are ground coupled and serve as heating and cooling elements; the façade functions as part of the ventilation and lighting systems and operates based on time of year and outside conditions. A full description of the mechanical systems is as follows: Geothermal Heat Pumps Heating and cooling for the facility is provided by a standing-column well geothermal heat pump system. Ground water is circulated between two geothermal wells and water-to-water heat pump boiler/chiller units are used to generate chilled water in the summer for cooling and hot water in the winter for heating. The chilled water and hot water is circulated to air handling units that serve all spaces. Hot water is also circulated to radiant floor slabs and radiant ceiling panels in the office spaces. High Efficiency Boilers Since heat is the dominant load in the facility, high-efficiency condensing boilers were used to supplement the geothermal heating system in heating mode, thereby balancing the ground source load. Radiant Slabs The high volume atrium space and vehicle maintenance spaces have tubing in the structural concrete floor slabs are used for radiant heating & cooling. These spaces were not required to be air conditioned, per se, however, because of the large glass exposures and skylight areas above them the design incorporated free cooling of these spaces. The floor slabs are ground-coupled, meaning that the geothermal well water is circulated through the tubing in the floor slab and provides free cooling in the summer time. In the winter time, the water is heated by the heat pumps and/or boiler for heating. This system has the advantage of low energy use since water systems have a 90% lower transport energy consumption compared with forced-air systems. Night cooling strategies are also employed. Passive Solar Heating Passive solar heating strategies were also incorporated into the design of the high volume atrium space. A double-glazed walkway was designed into the architecture of the building. It’s located on the 2nd through 4th floors and is glazed to the exterior and to the atrium. The system uses trapped solar heat in the winter and supplies it back to the atrium as reclaimed warm air. This heat is exhausted from the building in the summer. Large reversible air circulation ceiling fans are used to direct this air back to the floor of the atrium area in the winter and out through the skylight louvers in the summer. Mixed Mode Ventilation The atrium is ventilated by a mixed-mode ventilation system. Motorized louvers are incorporated into the façade of the building. They are located low on the exterior walls for fresh air intake and incorporated into the skylights at the roof level for natural convection exhaust ventilation. A mechanical ventilation system is used to supplement the natural ventilation system. Atrium Smoke Exhaust The atrium, being open to multiple floors, is required to be provided with an emergency smoke exhaust system. The atrium smoke fresh air intake shaft for the facility was used for dual purpose of smoke exhaust ductwork when the system is in emergency smoke exhaust mode. Hazardous/Odorous Exhaust Systems Care was taken in mitigating the potential for objectionable odors from the maintenance facility exhaust systems from being drawn back into any of the building’s fresh air intakes. The exhaust systems of concern were the compost, fertilizer, fuel storage, and pesticide exhaust systems. The exhaust systems were designed in an arrangement that takes into account best engineering practices, including: • Discharge these exhaust systems above the 35th floor roof of the high tower above the operable windows of the residential units. • Create as large a separation as possible, between all fresh air intakes and the discharge location of the hazardous/odorous exhaust systems (i.e. a minimum of 25 feet). • Orient the exhausts in an upblast discharge arrangement high above the roof level (i.e. a minimum of 10 feet). • Locate the exhaust system discharge upstream of the prevailing wind directions. • Gaseous filtration was installed on the hazardous/odorous exhausts and used to remove odors from airstreams. Water The project will use waterless urinals and low & ultra-low flow plumbing fixtures. By using these fixture and utilizing re-claimed water from the residential building the project will achieve an approximately 47% water use reduction. For vehicle wash-down, the Maintenance Facility will use the treated black water from the residential building’s waste water treatment plant. Gray water from the residential building will be used to flush toilets in the Maintenance Facility. Trench drains will be used at the vehicle entry doors to catch storm water run-off. A total of 96,710 gallons of grey water will be used in the Maintenance Facility per year. Materials The project approach is to use finishes and treatments that do not require adhesives (ie: sealed concrete slabs without carpet) whenever possible. Where no other alternative exists, low VOC adhesive and materials will be utilized. Applied finishes are minimized to facilitate maintenance in this service facility. Low-urea or non-urea formaldehyde wood products will be used in all built in or purchased items. Forestry Stewardship Council wood is specified for the millwork. Regionally manufactured and extracted, rapidly renewable, and recycled content materials will be used extensively. The project is designed to significantly exceed the requirements for sustainable materials outlined in LEED. Examples include: concrete topping slabs and infill walls are to have high recycled content; recycled denim wall insulation will be used; cork flooring to be used in private offices, bamboo plywood to be used at all millwork Indoor Air Quality The facility achieves its indoor air quality goals with the use of the following measures: all outdoor air intakes were located at the 11th floor roof level, high efficiency filtration, increased ventilation rates, demand control ventilation to high occupancy spaces, and the measurement of indoor parameters including temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide levels. In addition, in the administrative office area, all occupants were given control of their thermal environment and light levels. A filtering system is installed to filter all outdoor air delivered through the fresh air intake, as well as additional filters on the air handling units that serve all spaces. High efficiency filters with a particulate filtration level of at least MERV 13 are provided on the air handling units. The outdoor air intake is provided with a pre-filter of particulate filtration level of MERV 10. The outdoor air ventilation rates provided were sized to exceed, by 30%, the requirements of ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2004 Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality. This ensures improved levels of indoor air quality. Demand control ventilation was used wherein the outdoor air level was monitored in response to carbon dioxide levels in the high occupancy spaces. The 4th floor pantry has dedicated exhaust ventilation, with the corresponding outdoor air supply. Easy to maintain walk-off grilles have been designed at the interior of all building entrances in order to reduce dirt, chemicals, and other contaminants from the outside from migrating into the building, Trench drains, which connect to the storm sewer system, have also been provided at vehicle entry doors as an additional measure. Outside air intake ducts have been located at spaces where odors and contaminants cannot migrate into the supply air. The intake ducts are located on the roof of the residential tower above the Maintenance Facility. A comprehensive Pest Management Plan is being instituted during the construction phase and will be instituted for post occupancy to minimize pest vectors and improve indoor air quality. Process The Conservancy’s staff and operations will truly be integrated into the architecture of their new facility. This was a primary goal throughout the design process and started with a “charrette” or workshop attended by key stakeholders. Key members included the site owners, staff who would represent the owner during construction, the sustainable director for the site owner agency, the design team, and an array of attendees representing the project end users programming staff, maintenance staff and horticulture staff. This allowed the stake holders to state their goals for the project and hear goals and concerns of all the other participants. End user representatives from the maintenance staff, horticulture staff and programming staff continued as regular participants in bi-weekly design meetings. Another early step in the design process was to review the use and capacities of the various locations across Battery Park City where the Conservancy had existing office, workshop, and storage space. Diagrammatic site plans and matrixes were developed based on this information so that the new design was part of a comprehensive understanding about space use by the Conservancy throughout Battery Park City. This was the basis for a series of discussions to analyze the Conservancy’s current operations, brain-storm for ways to improve the current methods, and contemplate how operations were going to have to change with the new Facility. Through this process the team collaboratively developed a space program, floor plan layouts, critical spatial relationships, mechanical systems, energy conservation measures that were practical, and a new model for the day-to-day operations. Relationship to the public as users of the building and as observers of its processes was an issue throughout the design process. Public education programs and interaction with the public are a fundamental part of the operations of the Conservancy’s work. Facilitating visitor access through a complex working facility was designed to give full view of key operations while protecting the public. An example is the design of the entryway to the staging area/atrium. Here glazing was maximized and drop-down safety gates were incorporated so that the public could freely observe composting operations, electric vehicle storage and staging operations. Mockups and pilot programs were implemented early in the design phase to test and trouble shoot important operational components: DOS Compactor: The indoor space for the compactor was fully mocked up in order to test clearances and the viability of an indoor installation. A pilot program for the compactor was also instituted in order to test the neighborhood demand and effectiveness of the installation. Site visits to other installations and meetings with the New York City Department of Sanitation were also key elements to establishing the design of the compactor. Composting: Several systems were tested through pilot programs. Vermi-composting (composting with earthworms), ‘in-vessel”, and “earth-tub” designs were all tested through pilot programs prior to finalizing the design of the composting area. The project team also met with the developer during the design process which resulted in the symbiotic relationship between the residential development and the Maintenance Facility. Grey water and treated black water: These system designs and estimates of potential usage were established through several coordination meetings with the developer’s team and analysis of the Conservancy’s operations. Building Envelope: The exterior of the building (provided by the developer) needed to be coordinated with the interior spaces to provide adequate and appropriate natural ventilation. The building exterior also includes two specialized, high-speed roll-up doors. These doors minimize the loss of treated indoor air in the summer and winter. The doors are also integrated with air curtains to additionally reduce energy loss. The final, coordinated design is a complex assembly of roll-up doors, air curtains, and security gates (to restrict public access) that is tied into the building management system. The BMS dictates different modes of operation for the assembly that is dependent upon the exterior and interior conditions. The system can also be over-ridden by the Facility’s staff if necessary. Finishes throughout the facility were selected to reflect the nature of materials: the exposed building structure is concrete, infill panels are steel and the only applied floor finish is cork. The wall base and wainscoting are unfinished steel – for its durability and beauty.