Tall buildings are getting greener. Or green buildings are getting taller. Either way you slice it, the sustainability movement in the U.S. has gone large-scale and skyward, and nowhere is this more apparent than in New York City. By the end of this decade, several green high-rises now planned or under construction will pepper the Manhattan skyline, including a headquarters for the nation’s leading newspaper, the Freedom Tower, apartment buildings, and office towers for a financial institution and a major publisher.
Why the surge? New York owners and developers say they’ve discussed green design for years, but no one wanted to be the first to take the plunge—that is, until the Durst Organization hired Fox & Fowle Architects to design the Condé Nast Building at Four Times Square. Within a year’s time from 1999 to 2000, Four Times Square opened, Battery Park City’s environmental guidelines for residential construction were passed, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program was established. “Those three events changed everything,” says one developer who wished to remain anonymous. “Before that, we said, ‘Why bother?’ No one understood green design or what its advantages were. But after Four Times Square, everyone thought, ‘We can do that too.’ And LEED gave us a blueprint for understanding how to get there.”
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