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Public
Employee Press Greening of
New Yorka series Parks building goes
green
By
JANE LaTOUR
Skilled union professionals, all members of Civil Service
Technical Guild Local 375, have designed the Parks Departments first green
building the Marine Park project a complex, sustainable, structure
that will conserve energy from top to bottom.
Every aspect of the plan
is integrated into a grand green scheme to conserve energy. The vegetative roof
green as grass features plants and solar panels. A system of controls
that react to natural light and sensors that react to people make the lighting
energy-efficient throughout.
Its designed to keep warm in the
winter and cool in the summer, said Architect Campbell Morrison, who heads
the talented team of architects, engineers and other experts who have created
the facility at the agencys Olmsted Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
To
cut the use of fuel for transportation, all the materials, many of them recyclable
from bricks to tiles to indigenous plants will come from within
500 miles. A bike path, bike racks and nearby showers will help encourage bicycling
to and from the site. A dedicated parking space for a hybrid car and an electrical
outlet to refill it, a deliberately small parking lot to discourage
the use of automobiles, and proximity to public transportation are all part of
the careful scheme to go completely green.
The
project fits within the Mayors PlaNYC 2030, the ambitious master plan issued
in 2008 that aims to build a better, greener New York City. Construction started
with driving the piles on April 28, 2008, and is targeted to finish in 2010.
The
new building will replace a demolished field house and operate as a community
center, where senior citizens can be served three meals a day that are heated
in a warming pantry. It will have classrooms with computers, a general-purpose
community room, offices and lockers. Staff will be trained to maintain the complex
heating, ventilation and lighting systems, and an exhibit and instructional video
will educate the public about the projects green features. | |