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Green Building Award Winners Make New York City More Sustainable

Release Date: 09/24/2008
Contact Information: John Senn, U.S. EPA, (212) 637-3667, senn.john@epa.gov; Jason Post, New York City's Mayor’s Office, (212) 788-2958, jpost@cityhall.nyc.gov

(New York, N.Y.) New York City stands at the forefront of the green building and design movement, and the winners of the 2008 Green Building Competition for New York City exemplify a growing commitment to incorporate environmental factors into the city’s architecture. The competition, co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, with support from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, selected six winning projects, five in Manhattan and one in the Bronx.

The Battery Park Conservancy’s maintenance facility, designed by Dattner Architects, and the Visionaire condominium building, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, were selected as this year’s grand prize winners for their exemplary integration of design and sustainability. The maintenance facility sits in the first floor of the Visionaire, under construction between 2nd and 3rd Place and Battery Place and Little West Street in Manhattan’s Battery Park City.

The Bowery Hotel (250 Bowery Street), designed by Flank Inc., Architects, and West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc.’s center (to be built at 459 West 140th Street), designed by AQC Architects PC, are this year’s winners. Hearst Tower (300 West 57th Street), designed by Foster+Partners, and a condominium building at 1347 Bristow Street in the Bronx, designed by the Community Environmental Center, are this year’s honorable mentions.

“Greening New York City’s buildings is essential if we are to reduce our ecological footprint,” said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator. “Through their vision and creativity, the winners of the Green Building Competition are helping make New York healthier and more vibrant.”

"In our city, more carbon is emitted from buildings than cars,” said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “That’s why green design – and events like the Green Building Competition – are so important to our efforts to build a greener, greater New York City.”

The green building competition solicits projects that utilize sustainable construction techniques, incorporate post-construction occupancy concerns and are integrated into the existing New York cityscape. A seven-member jury comprising public and private architectural experts selected the winning projects from 18 applicants.

For more information on the 2008 Green Building Competition for New York City, visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/news/competition.shtml. For complete descriptions of the winning projects, go to http://epa.gov/region2/sustainability/gbwinnerdescriptions.pdf.

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