"The greenest skyscraper in the world": the promoters of One Bryant Park are not pulling any punches when advertising their new building at 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas. The building - generally known as the 'Bank of America Tower' in reference to its principal tenant - is the first to achieve Platinum level Leed certification, the American equivalent of our High Environmental Quality standard.
This title is the reward for a project in which the 'sustainable spirit' was embedded at every level: massive use of resources sourced less than 500 miles from Manhattan, a revolutionary personalised floor ventilation system, 'intelligent' lifts, a façade that reaps the benefits of solar radiation, recycling of the 10 million gallons of water that fall on the tower every year... With the added bonus, New York being the place to be, of a few 'little extras' that are sure to make the news, such as the waterless urinals and, on the ground floor, the 42-foot-high bamboo ceiling that matches the treetops of Bryant Park facing the building. A detail that - like the integration of the neoclassical façade of the neighbouring Harvey Miller Theater into the building - testifies to a new willingness in New York to integrate building sites into their environment rather than playing a tabula rasa policy, even if it means financing additional construction costs.
It's an approach that seems to be catching on. The 54 floors of One Bryant Park are gradually being taken over by the offices of the project's main promoters - the Durst Organization and Bank of America, of course - as well as those of Akin Gump's lawyers, HBK's financial teams and Generation, the 'ethical' investment fund set up by Al Gore.
The mayor on a green roof
This building is not an isolated project in a city that is opening itself up to eco-construction innovations. From B for Broadway loft to W for Williamsburg daycare centre, the list of green projects of all kinds is growing every week, from apartment blocks and office blocks to hospitals, schools and shopping centres...
Recently, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has even been seen, perched on a green roof, paying his own way in TV adverts to extol the virtues of 'green construction' as a source of jobs. This is in line with the policy recently defined by the federal government, which has earmarked a budget of 40 billion for the creation of green jobs in its stimulus plan. "America goes green": the United States finally has its "new frontier".
