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High-Performance Alliance Opens 2010 with Two Major Commissions
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Croxton Collaborative and NK Architects have continued their eight-year collaboration in dramatic fashion to lead off 2010. Specializing in sustainable science, education and research facilities, the Alliance has been awarded two major projects, the rehabilitation of the Wooster Building at SUNY New Paltz and, more recently, the expansion of the Advanced Biotechnology Incubator Building at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.
The Wooster Building is a 72,000 sf former science building in the heart of the New Paltz Campus that will be rehabilitated to general purpose administrative and academic use and to act as a student hub and link between the two main campus quads. The precast concrete and masonry building is forty years old and has not undergone any significant renovations in its existence. The $21 million rehabilitation will upgrade all building systems and transform this outdated structure into a high-performance exemplar. The project team is planning to exceed the State minimum of LEED Silver and achieve a rating of Gold or Platinum, setting a new standard of sustainable design for the campus.
The $14 million, 26,000 sf Advanced Biotechnology Incubator expansion will more than double the square footage of the current facility at SUNY Downstate Medical. The expansion will include a signature main lobby/entrance that will welcome visitors and researchers and establish its identity on campus and provide additional laboratory, office and teleconference space. The campus has set the modest goal of achieving ‘LEED certification, if possible,’ but the design team expects, based on their history of cost-effective sustainable design exemplar projects, to achieve LEED Gold at a minimum.
The Advanced Biotechnology Incubator expansion marks the second biotechnology incubator project undertaken by Croxton Collaborative / NK Architects, following the team’s design of the Digital Century Science Center at the University Heights Science Park in Newark, NJ. All told, Croxton Collaborative and NK Architects have worked on six projects, including the Institute for the Environment at Rutgers University and the Center for Advanced Environmental Research for the Beacon Institute. All of the team’s work is rigorously high-value, creating sustainable exemplar projects that are delivered at or below regional benchmark costs for their building types.
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Randy Croxton's Article "Hollow Green, Solid Green and Sustainability" Featured in Fall edition of Oculus
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Randy Croxton's article detailing the current positives and negatives of the current state of sustainability in New York City as well the best path to achieving a more sustainable future for New York City was prominently featured in the Fall edition of Oculus Magazine, an independent quarterly magazine published by the AIA New York Chapter.
In the article, Randy explains the details of the current LEED rating system, the prominent green building rating format used by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In particular, Croxton highlights some particularly strong instances of LEED-rated buildings in New York City, as well as some challenges faced with new development and new buildings.
Randy goes on to expound several key initiatives being undertaken within New York City and the architectural profession, including Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC and Ed Mazria's 2030 Challenge and details how New York City and New York State together can begin to take the steps necessary to ensure long-term viability and success.
To read a copy of the article, please download it here.
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NRDC's New York Office Featured In Fall Edition of Oculus Magazine
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The Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) New York Headquarters was featured in an article in the Fall edition of Oculus Magazine, an independent quarterly magazine published by the AIA New York Chapter. The article highlights the sustainable leadership role played by NRDC and Croxton Collaborative in the design of the original office space in 1988 as well as subsequent expansions.
The headquarters office is the first recognized U.S. project to reconcile the conflicting issues of substantially reduced energy consumption and dramatically better indoor air quality; and it stands alone today as the seminal project that turned the tide toward Green Architecture in America. This light, airy office space has become an exemplar project for those concerned with environmental quality and human well-being. NRDC exemplifies reduced operation and maintenance costs, while benefitting from increased productivity. The need for market rate construction costs was combined with cost-benefit analysis to support specifications of systems and materials. It’s annual energy/maintenance savings over a code-compliant model amounts to over $45,000 per year for the original 30,000 square feet of space.
Since the initial headquarters project in 1989, Croxton Collaborative and NRDC have continued to work together on numerous follow-up endeavors, including Master Planning, additional floors for the New York headquarters and analysis and recommendations for offices in other cities. Having completed the design and construction of the Ninth Floor expansion in 2006, Croxton Collaborative is currently instituting the first phase of NRDC’s Master Plan, and recently opened the new Eighth Floor offices, which will accommodate NRDC’s increasing staff.
To read a copy of the article, please download it here.
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Randy Croxton's "A Call for Resourceful Architecture" featured in Inaugural Edition of Pratt Strategic Design Review
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Pratt Institute launched CATALYST Strategic Design Review, a digital publication of the graduate Design Management Program, designed to encourage a conversation about the role of strategic design in shaping long-term business advantage and a sustainable future. The intent of CATALYST is to provide an opportunity for design leaders and innovators to share the theory, practice and excitement of designing triple bottom line strategic advantage.
The inaugural issue explores New York City as an incubator for evolving triple bottom line thinking (corporate, environmental and social strategy) into a holistic methodology and features "A Call for Resourceful Architecture" by Randy Croxton. In the article, Randy addresses the need to move forward in sustainable design and accomplish sustainability with "no net green premium." The article takes as a case study Johnson Hall of Science at St. Lawrence University, which achieved a LEED Gold rating (the first academic or laboratory building in New York State to do so) at a construction cost 30% below the regional benchmark for this building type.
To download a digital version of the magazine, please visit:
http://www.dexigner.com/jump/news/17954
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