Generator takes its cues from its urban waterfront context, rising out of the ground where formerly a power plant stood for three quarters of a century. The tower is nestled amongst a cluster of industrial buildings with site lines to the great Manhattan bridges and their masterful truss and frame structures.
The 610’ tower is positioned to maximize views of Manhattan and Brooklyn below, and to maximize on the site’s solar and wind energy. The elevated promontory upon which the building sits acts as an elevated parkland which anticipates water surges and mitigates wave action, also allowing for hydrological filtration and phytoremediation.
The building body and its office program is lifted above the ground by 210’, both in anticipation of sea level rise, and to reveal the giant helical wind turbine whose two large blades encircle the building core. Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation Modeling allowed us to optimize the building positioning relative to the turbine, and maximize energy potential. Notwithstanding the energy benefits, the lifted form and truss structure is an intentional reference to the neighboring bridges.
The building’s sophisticated double skin has a thermally broken automated ventilation sash for modulated fresh air, complimented by perimeter ERVs, managing intake and exhaust air much like “gills”. The office space is heated and cooled via a radiant in-floor and ceiling hydronic system from energy captured by the geothermal field in the park below. Further cooling is augmented by the deep-water cooling system where icy water is drawn up into the towers heat exchangers to further cool the internal building loop.
The aim is to create a unique and dynamic office building, meeting 21st century energy goals - beyond net zero, and generating energy at a surplus; a building which at once acknowledges the past, but looks wholeheartedly to the future.
View Original