New York Treats - and Defeats

Photo credit: arcspace

I was pretty excited when I learned I would be teaching a LEED-CI training workshop in the Four Times Square building in New York City. It is, after all, the building that proved that green is marketable. Developed by The Durst Organization as a speculative project in 1995, it was fully leased shortly after completion in 2000. Though its design team, headed by Fox and Fowle Architects, had little to guide them – the project predates LEED – its green credentials are widely admired.

Imagine my dismay when I ended up spending the day in an alternating too hot / too cold windowless auditorium lit, for the most part, with incandescent lighting. I did get to eat lunch in the Frank Gehry cafeteria – a magical confection of curvilinear and sculptural materials – most of which I fear are inappropriate for a green building, but they are fabulous!