New York City Council Passes Green Building Laws

New York City Green Building Laws

Just a quick summary to get the word out – The City Council passed several bills to achieve the goal of reducing NYC’s carbon count by 30% by 2030, by making buildings more efficient.

One requirement for building owners with facilities that are over 50,000 sf – they must conduct an energy audit every 10 years, and make “environmental tune-ups” to operations and maintenance systems.

Read the full article in Crain’s here.

Where is Corporate Office design going?

Where is corporate office design going?  Try following the lead of technology. 

In the past, the standard corporate office layout was created by locating private offices around the perimeter, utilities at the core, work stations in-between, and some conference rooms at the entrance for efficiency.  The interior design approach was not much different - simply wrapping some paint, wallcovering, or decorative element around every wall and column you could find, and mixing in some carpet and ceiling tile for good measure. 

Today, as architects, we take our cues from the new mobile and digital era, and design our spaces to encourage different ways of thinking and collaborating.  Our goal is to facilitate a certain way of working rather than just putting on a show. 

Of course when we design spaces we want them to be attractive and efficient, but we also want our clients to benefit from our experience in analyzing the current technology, how people work with it, and apply it in a way that can benefit their organization.

Key considerations should be taking advantage of the daylight you have, creating places for employees to interact informally while moving between departments, and the role design can play in the creative thinking process.

For more information, contact us at www.dyami.com.

The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

Check out the new Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University – completed in 2 phases the building’s first phase is Gold Certified while the second phase is Platinum Certified projects.  The architect for the project is Lord, Aeck & Sargent / Gould Evans.

Aside from being a great piece of architecture, the building functions as a state of the art research facility and a demonstration of ecological laboratory design.

An interesting design strategy was to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect, using reflective roof membrane, high albedo paving and hardscape shaded by landscaping.

Low flow fixtures and waterless urinals use 30% less water.

An atrium delivers natural light deep into the building, and combined with exterior shading systems, maximizes sunlight while minimizing solar heat gain.

For more information on Green Building Design, contact us at www.dyami.com.

Commercial Building Owners – Save 30-40% of your energy budget and get a tax deduction?

How? Benchmark your building against the ASHRAE 90.1 building standard, and meet a certain level of energy reductions – that’s how.  Be sure to use an independent 3rd party to benchmark your building, while using IRS and DOE approved software. 

Not only will you save 30-40% of your engergy budget, but you will be entitled to a tax deduction between $0.60 and $1.80 PER SQUARE FOOT which accelerate the depreciation of capital invested in energy efficiency improvements.

Since I’m not an accountant, ask your CPA about any tax incentive programs that may be available to you.

New Study: Green Jobs to Support Nearly 8 Million Jobs Over Next 4 Years

The US Green Building Council (USGBC)  and Booz Allen Hamilton have completed a study determining that despite the challenging economic outlook, green building will support 7.9 million jobs over the next 4 years.

The study also determined that green construction spending currently supports more than 2 million American jobs and generates more than $100 billion in gross domestic product and wages.  The study was released at the USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.

It is most likely just a matter of time until green requirements become part of the International Building Code, leading the way for each state to adopt them into their state and local codes.  But when you get right down to “Green Design”, shouldn’t we just call it “Good Design”? 

To me, the real benefit of the Green Design movement is that building owners will eventually have statistical proof that “Good Design” not only pays for itself, but increases productivity and the bottom line – and this will raise the level of building design across the board.