City’s ‘Greenest’ Building Opens in Queens

September 27, 2007
City’s ‘Greenest’ Building Opens in Queens

By Swell Chan for the New York Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is on his way to Flushing, Queens, to formally open what city officials are calling the “greenest” building ever erected in New York City.

The building is the new 15,831-square-foot Visitor and Administration Center at the Queens Botanical Garden. It is on track to receive the platinum rating — the highest possible — from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the United States Green Building Council, which certifies buildings for sustainability and environmental friendliness.

Photo by BKSK Architects

The building, designed to maximize natural light and ventilation, comprises three interconnected spaces: a paved forecourt sheltered by a 27-foot-tall zinc-shingled roof canopy; a recessed central building, with a glass façade of wood cladding and brise-soleil, a sun-shading technique; and an auditorium topped by a sloping green roof that merges with the landscape.


“F. Scott Fitzgerald once described the grounds we occupy as ‘a valley of ashes,’” says Susan Lacerte, the botanical garden’s executive director. “I am proud to say that we have more than sprung up from the ashes, we have blossomed. And we have achieved this by being ‘green’ throughout our whole organization, at every layer of operation and in every manifestation.”

Many officials are on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including Helen M. Marshall, the Queens borough president, whose office provided much of the financing.

Nearly four times the size of the previous visitor center, the new building includes a reception area, a garden store, gallery space, meeting rooms, administrative offices, and a mechanical room. Nearby is a new 6,229-square-foot horticulture and maintenance Building, made of pre-manufactured corrugated metal siding, cedar siding and corrugated translucent panels that maximize daylight.

Construction costs for the two new buildings and related landscaping totaled $12 million, part of a $22 million master plan for the garden that also includes exhibits and interpretation and a new “parking garden” to be built.

Designed by BKSK Architects, the visitor center is designed to minimize energy consumption. On the roof are photo-voltaic panels that will provide almost 20 percent of the complex’s electricity needs. A geothermal system will reduce the garden’s reliance on fossil fuel burning. The green roof above the auditorium absorbs rainwater, which helps to maintain plantings. Additionally, a wetland area planted nearby, combined with a composting toilet and waterless urinals, reduces the facility’s water consumption by 30 percent. The building’s “gray water” is cleaned by the landscape and reused to flush toilets.

The city’s Department of Design and Construction oversaw the design process, and the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs also assisted with the project.

The Queens Botanical Garden grew from “Gardens on Parade,” a five-acre exhibition at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Today it occupies 39 acres of city-owned land, adjacent to the northeast tip of Flushing Meadow Corona Park.