Earlier this year Cornell and Technion, Israel Institute for Technology won the privilege of developing a new tech campus and incubator on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Starchitects Skidmore, Owings, Merril (SOM) won the design competition and now plans are underway to turn the entire island into an enormous super-green net-zero energy campus complete with four acres of geothermal wells and a solar array that is three times bigger than the current largest system in NYC. Hit the jump to see Cornell’s images and to learn more.
The ten acre campus has been designed to maximize the benefits of solar energy and will include 500,000 square feet of green space that will be open to the public.
The first building, which the team hopes will achieve LEED Platinum status, will comprise Cornell and Technion’s core learning space. And it’s going to be the greenest building the east coast has seen since the first wave of pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower in 1620!
Not only will it be built using recycled materials, but the solar-powered facility will maximize daylight through passive design and benefit from a digitally-operable ventilation system.
All other buildings, including housing for staff and students, a public atria and corporate space, will strive for a minimum of LEED Silver.
The four acre geothermal field will have 400 wells that will harvest the earth’s internal thermal power to heat and cool buildings and the solar array will generate a whopping 1.8 MW per day at peek!
An electrical power fuel cell will also contribute to the project’s grid independence.
In addition to plans to treat and recycle storm water, a bevy of green walls, green roofs, rain gardens and even an urban forest are in the pipeline.
Basically, Cornell and Technion are aiming for nothing short of the most amazing net-zero energy facility in all of America, and the biggest public green space in New York City.
Now… how about we bring more of this great green action to the Middle East?
All images copyright Cornell University
:: Arch Daily
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Four acres of geothermal wells and a solar array three times bigger than the current largest system in NYC? Now, that is amazing! Turning the entire island into a super-green net-zero energy oasis is a great step towards a safe and sustainable future.
Thanks for the fast reply. Appreciated..
Thanks for being so astute Gilad. I admit that I wrote out the details without performing these calculations. Probably the green space will be in the surrounding parts of the campus on Roosevelt Island, but I’ll double check with all the necessary people.
I don’t understand something:
“The ten acre campus has been designed to maximize the benefits of solar energy and will include 500,000 square feet of green space that will be open to the public”
So I Googled “how many square feet in an acre” and found out that 1 acre = 43,560 sf.
500,000/43,460 = 11.48 acres of the green space alone, not to mention the non-green parts.
How can a 10 acre campus contain 500,000 sf of green space?
Thank you
My guess is they are including other surfaces of green space such as the different levels including the roof tops, etc?