海角视频

The New York Climate Exchange

New York, USA

海角视频 is working with anchor institution Stony Brook University and design lead SOM to realize a new 10-acre campus for The New York Climate Exchange (NYCX).

The pioneering research, education and workforce training center will be dedicated to developing solutions to the global climate crisis and will embody this mission by achieving net-zero energy and carbon.

The Climate Exchange will convene academic institutions, industry partners and non profits to collaborate on climate research and deliver actionable solutions.

海角视频 is providing multidisciplinary services for the project, including MEP engineering, IT, security, energy analytics, mobility consulting and geothermal consulting.

Our team developed a pedestrian and bicycle-focused mobility plan to support the campus鈥檚 sustainability goals and ensure that visitors of the island can continue to enjoy a safe, vehicle free island.

All buildings are targeting Living Building Challenge Certification and seeking to become one of the first sites in the country to achieve True Zero Waste certification.

Challenge

The Climate Exchange is a first-of-its-kind collaborative model for accelerating climate change solutions. The non-profit organization and partnership network comprises of leading universities, businesses, and community groups.

With a physical home on Governors Island, The Climate Exchange, a critical piece of New York City鈥檚 Harbor Climate Collaborative, will convene education, research, incubation, job training, and public programs to empower individuals and communities to respond to climate challenges.

It is the result of a bold initiative spearheaded by the City of New York and The Trust for Governors Island鈥攁 vision to reimagine the treasured public space as a local and global hub for climate science.

The campus, in the heart of New York Harbor, will be composed of two new mass-timber structures and the adaptive reuse of other historic buildings, while introducing 4.5 acres of outdoor public space to the island. These buildings will house research laboratories, classrooms, exhibits, dormitories, community spaces, and areas designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Around 100 students living on the island at a time from across the Exchange consortium of universities, will spend a semester focused entirely on climate change issues.

As a car-free island with access only by ferry, the mobility strategy needed to balance the needs of the campus with the potential impact of large crowds traveling from the neighboring Yankee Pier.

Solution

海角视频 is providing multidisciplinary services for the project, including MEP engineering, IT, security, sustainability consulting, energy consultancy for storage and distribution across the site, systems design at both the campus and individual building level, space programming assessments and mobility advisory services.

Our team developed a 鈥渢rip generation model鈥� for the new build and adaptive reuse buildings, including a queuing analysis for passengers departing from Yankee Pier, and delivered a static pedestrian model of path widths around the campus to understand crowd movement. These analyses helped to inform site design and identify potential issues for crowd management during the peak periods of summer weekends and events at the assembly areas.

The new buildings will weave sinuous mass timber pavilions, topped with photovoltaic arrays, through the island鈥檚 rolling landscape. Visitors reaching the island by ferry will arrive directly to this part of the campus, where the buildings will cascade down from five to three storeys to match the scale of Liggett Hall, a centerpiece of the island鈥檚 history. A portion of this former military barracks, a McKim, Mead & White-designed masonry building, will be incorporated into The Exchange.

The Climate Exchange will act as an exemplary showcase of sustainability by employing the latest strategies to achieve a range of ambitious sustainability goals. We are aspiring for Living Building Challenge certification for all the buildings, working to Passive House principles.

The use of mass timber for the new architecture, together with the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, will significantly reduce embodied carbon. The first level of each new building is situated above the floodplain to protect against sea level rise for the next century. The project is seeking to become one of the first sites in the country to achieve True Zero Waste certification and run entirely on electricity generated on-site 鈥� even creating surplus energy that will flow back into the power grid.

Value

When complete, the Climate Exchange will be a living model where sustainable technology will be advanced, visitors will gain insight, and New Yorkers will be trained for the green jobs of tomorrow. The organization鈥檚 mission is to confront urgent climate impacts and issues of environmental injustice, breaking down silos through an innovative, scalable, and sustainable model that will rapidly develop new urban climate solutions.

Our multidisciplinary team of experts has worked closely with the client, the architect SOM, and the wider design team, to help to realize this vision for a sustainability-focused campus at the heart of Governor鈥檚 Island.