Building green throughout the region
By Elizabeth Licata
 |
|
The new Burchfield-Penney (in progress) with director Ted PIetrzak and contractor Lou Ciminelli.
Photo by kc kratt. |
 |
Great progress has been made with individual house designs employing sustainable materials and energy-saving features, but even more exciting strides are being made in commercial and institutional construction. Buffalo has some major projects in the works—on the drawing boards, in permit and planning stages, or projects that have actually broken ground and are already under construction. All these designs incorporate significant green technologies.
Here is just a sampling of the current projects. Most of these are aiming to achieve some standard of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) certification. Each of these projects has carefully planned components that will contribute to creating an environmentally responsible building stock.
Burchfield-Penney Art Center
Gwathmey Siegel Architects/Ciminelli
This exciting structure is far along in the construction process, already forming a new silhouette on the Elmwood Avenue edge of the Buffalo State campus across from the Albright-Knox. Since its inception, it was planned for the building to meet, at minimum, New York State’s Executive Order 111 which decrees that all state buildings need to fulfill a level of energy and conservation standards.
On completion, the building will seek LEED certification. Elements that will specifically contribute to the point rating system are:
• Recycling (incorporating recycled materials into the actual construction and managing construction debris to divert it from landfills.)
• Energy savings (using natural light in many public spaces, using motion-activated lighting switches in some galleries and offices, using extremely efficient heating and cooling systems, and incorporating a “building energy management system” to centrally program the lighting systems).
• Resource conservation (using waterless urinal systems, dual flush toilets, and water-efficient landscaping).
|
|||
|
The Niagara falls bridge commission.
Photos by Mike Chadwick. |
• Limiting exhaust emissions (obtaining a percentage of building materials within a five hundred mile radius of the site, selecting low volatile organic compound emitting materials and using clean construction processes, incorporating bicycle racks, and designating preferred parking spaces for electric vehicles).
Niagara Falls Bridge Commission Administration Building
Wendel Duchscherer Architects/Engineers
The headquarters facility for three major international bridges was designed in Adirondack style (gable roof, stone façade) and opened several years ago. It has expansive window systems and skylights to provide natural lighting throughout the building’s interior.
There are many sustainable design elements employed to achieve a level of LEED certification, including landscape designs that provide rolling berms and plantings.
 |
|
Nichols rendering
|
New Math/Science/Technology Building
Architectural Resources of Buffalo and New York City
Nichols is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school serving grades five through twelve. The school’s beautiful campus is located opposite Delaware Park on Amherst Street at Colvin Avenue.
Delaware North Companies has gifted $1 million to Nichols to construct a 26,000-square-foot “eco-friendly” building for mathematics, science, and technologies. The site will house seven laboratories, eight classrooms, and a technology learning lab.
Several elements of the project support the Big Green Initiative, the school’s program supporting environmental consciousness and individual wellness. The building will feature an intricate wall system for natural daylighting and sun control, a landscaped green roof (accessible to students), as well as a sustainable heating and cooling system. An active, naturally purified indoor air quality system is planned and recycled materials will be used extensively.
In addition to the new building construction, Nichols is expanding its sustainability efforts in existing buildings (including the recent installation of new windows and heating system in Albright Hall). Similar updates are planned for Mitchell Hall later this year.
The project will be coupled with campus roadway improvements, naturally buffered parking areas, new driveways and bus-loading areas. Additional campus beautification will create new outdoor spaces for learning and student gathering.
 |
|
The Dulski Building in progress.
Photo by kc kratt. |
Redevelopment of the Dulski Federal Building
Stieglitz Snyder Architecture, Wendel Duchscherer Engineers
Uniquest Development is completely renovating the interior and exterior of what was a very dated concrete office tower. Sheathed in a new skin of high-performance glass façade, it will to create a new mixed-use facility including a hotel, offices, and luxury condominiums.
The original precast concrete panels have been removed (and recycled as opposed to going into a landfill). Coupled with asbestos-abatement, the tower has been stripped of its skin and is now down to its skeleton. The low-E coating on insulated glass panels will provide a high-level shading coefficient to reduce solar heat gain in the summer as well as help hold heat in during the winter (thereby reducing energy consumption).
Other “green” features include replacement of the heating and air conditioning systems with new high efficiency boilers and heat pumps. A significant portion of new building materials will have a recycled content. About a quarter of the building materials will be extracted, processed, and manufactured regionally, thus reducing pollutants created by fossil fuels used in transporting products to the site.
All perimeter spaces will have continuous strips of vision glass to maximize natural light, and to offer panoramic views of the city and lake. Extensive landscaping and plantings are planned.
 |
|
Erie County Public Safety Building.
Photo by Jim Bush. |
Safety Building
Cannon Design
This striking building is situated prominently near the foot of Elm Street and is now fully operational. Among other state-of-the-art services, it houses a regional 911 communications center, forensic laboratory, evidence collection unit, and an emergency operations center.
A series of stacked, two-story glass lobbies face southwest. Translucent glazing and extensive sunscreens on the south elevation reduce glare and heat gain while maintaining views. From the north, the building is flooded with natural light which is transferred by interior borrowed fixtures across the width of the structure, minimizing artificial lighting needs within the core. Substantial earth berms along the base of three elevations reduce energy consumption.
 |
|
Harris Hill Fire
Photo by Paul Marko. |
Steiglitz Snyder Architecture
The Harris Hill Volunteer Company’s handsome new fire hall is a single story 24,000-square-foot building situated on almost eight acres on Main Street in Willliamsville. In 2006, it received LEED Certification (with thirty-one points) for its completed design.
As one of the few certified fire halls, this spotless and spacious facility won points for site selection, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environmental air quality, and innovations in design. Water efficiency includes low-flow fixtures to save water, but also incorporates landscaping that doesn’t require irrigation and a rainwater harvesting tank. Energy efficiency includes a highly insulated building shell, efficient equipment, but also includes third-party monitoring and confirmation that all building systems are operating as the design intended. Innovative design includes the company’s purchase of special catalytic converters for all trucks to lower the demand on ventilation and save energy.
 |
|
SUNY Fredonia Commons
Courtesy of Kideny Architects |
SUNY Fredonia
Kideney Architects
Completed in summer 2006, renovations and a substantial addition to a building that is a focal point of activity on campus combines student housing, food services, and retail operations. The brick, precast concrete, and glass building is sensitive to the mid-century campus (much of which was designed by I. M. Pei).
The addition is sited within a thirty-year-old grove of honey locust trees and uses energy-conscious design and LEED criteria, including site design, heating and cooling systems designed to reduce ozone depletion, use of local and regional materials, and reuse of significant portions of the existing building and shell.
 |
|
Model for the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion.
|
Darwin Martin House Restoration
Hamilton Houston Lownie
This textbook restoration of one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s major Prairie Houses has incorporated a green philosophy, with the thinking being that were he designing the buildings today, Wright would have employed the latest technologies.
The complex is employing a geothermal well system which uses the ground as a heat exchanger to inject heat from the buildings in the summer and extract it during the winter. This is a closed-loop system (which means that ground water never mixes with water in the system: only heat is transferred).
When complete, a system of thirty-six wells (each dug to a depth of 330 feet to capture the fifty-five-degree constant temperature of the earth) will serve the Martin House, Carriage House, and Conservatory. The new Visitor Center designed by Toshiko Mori (whose groundbreaking occurred in March) will be served by an additional twenty wells.
This green technology will help adapt the National Historic Landmark from its original use as a single family residence to its new purpose as a house museum expecting to welcome tens of thousands of visitors per year.
 |
|
HealthNow
Photo by kc kratt |
CSO Architects
I’ve written several articles for Spree about Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s sprawling new headquarters. But I’d be derelict not to mention the building again in a survey of LEED projects. The detoxification of its highly contaminated site that had been saturated with petroleum-based contaminants was itself a huge investment and substantial environmental achievement.
At the time of this writing, it was thought that the building was about to be awarded a LEED silver rating. The focus on daylight and views, light sensors, and preservation and incorporation of the historic façade contributed. Throughout the project, materials were selected that were local or regional, recycled, and low-emitting. The significant plantings and plant selections used on the interiors also emphasize the sustainable design story. On the north side of the atrium, planters incorporated on all floors create a live green wall.
The south glass curtain wall probably provides the best view of the waterfront in the city. Its sunscreens make it energy efficient. The upper floor terrace and the dining terrace behind the historic façade are also very exciting. This building is a terrific addition to our streetscape during the day, a beacon on Lake Erie at night.
 |
|
2410 North Forest rendering
|
 |
|
The Villa Maria site
|
of Saint Francis
Convent; 2410 North
Forest, Amherst
Trautman Associates
An adaptive reuse project of the 126,000-square-foot convent building on the Villa Maria Campus in Cheektowaga is currently under construction.
Green features include geothermal heat sources with additional heating and cooling supplied by high-efficiency roof-top units with energy recovery, a high-efficiency lighting package, the installation of over 700 high-efficiency Marvin-clad windows, and a retrofitted envelope insulation for existing masonry walls. Materials salvaged from building demolition were to be reused.
A new Community Living Center is a two-story facility that includes residential space, a medium-care nursing unit, and a skilled nursing unit. The facility is predominantly air conditioned by water-to-air water source heat pumps. The hybrid geothermal system is innovative and consists of a man-made pond that has been built around a natural spring-fed well. It serves as the primary heat sink for the building’s environmental systems, with pond water pumped to a heat exchanger. As the physical constraints of the pond preclude it from carrying the entire building load, a closed-circuit fluid cooler is used to trim the peak load condition. A dual-circuited heat exchanger is used, with one circuit dedicated to the pond and the other to the fluid cooler.
At 2410 North Forest, a planned three-story office building (at the construction document stage) is aiming for a silver LEED rating. It was designed with a focus on tenant comfort and building and site sustainability. Most of the offices will enjoy expansive views and natural daylight, and exterior sunshades will be employed. Alternative transportation measures include bicycle racks and preferred parking for hybrid vehicles. A building recycling center also adds to the sustainable work environment.
From the indoor air quality and energy efficiency standpoint, the building will perform better than present-day norms due to the under-floor air distribution with high-efficiency rooftop units and energy recovery, zoned heating and cooling with individual user control, and a fully integrated energy management and tracking system. Innovative water efficiency will be achieved through foundation-dewatering to irrigate landscaped areas.
 |
|
School 67
|
Hamilton Houston Lownie
As part of the Buffalo School District Reconstruction Program, a model twenty-first century elementary school was designed into existing, antiquated early twentieth-century school buildings. The design created an efficient building by controlling natural and artificial light as well as the environmental systems.
The pre-K to eighth grade program was developed for learning through discovery, teaching by seeing and experiencing. (Various building components were left exposed for teachers to use as instructional aids.) An existing central light court was reclaimed with the use of a new tension fabric roof structure under which the main functions are the school’s library, cafeteria, and technology shop. The use of the tension fabric is particularly interesting because it is a lightweight structure that the existing building’s structural system could support without any added or structural modifications. That becomes relevant if you bear in mind that one of the strongest components of the LEED standards is building reuse.
 |
|
The Theodore Roosevelt Site
|
Schneider Design Architects, PC and David W. DeBoy Architect
This project is scheduled to begin construction this spring as a renovation to the National Historic Site where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1901 after the assassination of President McKinley. The addition is to be done in the style of the original carriage house that once stood on the site. The addition will facilitate visitor reception and house a gift shop, storage, and other services, and offer handicapped accessibility. Renovations of the historic Wilcox House include roof replacement, fire protections, and site improvements.
Sustainability characteristics of the project include roof panels of environmentally friendly foam and renewable wood for continuously insulating roof material, and simulated slate tile roofing made of recycled rubber and plastic, both manufactured locally. Abundant windows and curtain walls for natural daylight have passive solar low-E and argon-filled insulating glass and will be used along with high energy-efficient mechanical equipment.
 |
|
East Utica Library rendering
|
Young+Wright Architectural
A renovation of the former East Utica Library into a future business incubator and offices for the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation is scheduled to be completed in the fall. The original facility is a neoclassical building constructed in 1929.
The design incorporates green elements in hopes of acquiring a silver LEED certification, including a white membrane roofing to reduce heat gain, solar panel installation on the roof to provide some of the electricity, and new windows and roof insulation. Natural linoleum floors and environmentally friendly finishes will be used. There will be space for bike storage and shower facilities, while nearby bus stops encourage alternative transportation.
 |
|
Babeville
Photo by J.P. Thimot |
Architectural Resources
The adaptive reuse and redevelopment of the former Delaware Asbury Methodist Church has won a myriad of awards. The building now houses corporate office space for Righteous Babe Records, a lounge, a performance venue, and the home of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.
The building had suffered from many years of neglect and required extensive interior and exterior work. The project was one of the first to bring geothermal technology to the area, which features a heat pump system allowing for sustainable and efficient heating and cooling of the massive structure. A new exterior stair tower provides circulation, natural lighting, and a focal point for the building.
Conclusion
There are many “green projects” sprouting in the area and across the country. To the south of us, Penn State University has just committed to “a system-wide goal of LEED certification of all new buildings, a ten million dollar annual investment in retrofitting and efficiency, and a seventeen percent decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2012.”
However, Gerald Strickland of Hamilton Houston Lownie points out, “There are times when LEED Certification is never sought, keeping in mind the added cost of certification to be around twenty-five percent of the construction cost. A project like School 67 would have required choosing between certification and actually providing the elements to make the structure efficient.
“Certification is now mandated for New York State projects,” continues Strickland “but to what end I’m not sure, seeing as how we can produce an efficient building without an added costly process.” With attention to the efficiency of a building simply inherent in the design process, one might ask if another costly layer of certification is necessary in an atmosphere of tight budgets and limited resources, but at the very least, the LEED process shines a new spotlight on the environmental responsibilities of architects, contractors, and owners.
Barry A. Muskat is Buffalo Spree’s Architecture Critic.
Back to the Table of Contents
Back to Top