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November 3, 2016

Two DDC Projects Receive the AIANY COTE Award For Socially and Environmentally Responsible Urban Design


Contact:
Ian Michaels
718-391-1589

 

Long Island City, NY – Two projects by the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) have received a 2016 COTE Award from the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY). Presented by the AIANY’s Committee on the Environment, the awards represent the best in socially and environmentally responsible urban design. 

The New York Police Academy in College Point, Queens, and the Washington Square Park House in Manhattan were both selected for the Merit Award by AIANY, which issued four COTE Awards this year. The award winners, AIANY says, “demonstrate processes that culminate in beautiful, timeless and measurable design.” Award recipients were selected from projects located within a 200-mile radius of Central Park.

“Equity and environmental sustainability are guiding principles that DDC follows in all its work,” said DDC Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora. “To receive half of the COTE Awards from the New York Chapter of AIA for 2016 is a great accomplishment and a tribute to the DDC staff who work on public projects in every neighborhood of New York City.”

NYPD Police Academy entrance

The New York Police Academy on 30 acres in College Point is the largest public building project in the City to achieve LEED Gold certification for environmental efficiency. It features an 8-story tall tactical village for simulation training, an emergency vehicle operators’ training course, and the world’s first three-story firing range. 

The project includes the Recruit Academic Building with classrooms, mock training environments, instructional offices, and administrative support spaces, while a Tactical Training Building contains physical training facilities, gyms, a swimming pool, an indoor track, and spaces for CPR instruction and baton training.

In addition to advanced training facilities for police recruits, the Academy has advanced lighting, a 7,500-sqaure-foot green roof, rainwater harvesting and reuse, automated building controls, and bio-filtration of stormwater runoff. Heating and cooling are generated campus-wide from a central utilities plant. A 5-acre landscaped bioswale helps cleanse stormwater of toxins and oils before releasing it to nearby Flushing Bay.

More photos of the New York Police Academy are here, courtesy of NYC DDC.

Washington Square Park House

The Washington Square Park House in the famous landmark park in Greenwich Village houses widely-used public restrooms, plus offices and storage and mechanical spaces, most notably for the pumps that operate the park’s historic central fountain. Featuring photovoltaic panels, sustainable materials, and a geothermal system, the building is LEED Platinum certified.

The curved form and positioning of the building helps buffer noise while the use of silent mechanical equipment helps maintain quiet in the park. The building’s small footprint honors the archeological significance of the park, while sustainable design strategies and natural materials respect the park’s natural environment. The office portion of the building is designed to be entirely day lit and integrated shading elements mitigate glare and excessive solar heat gain.

The Park House is part of the park's recent $30.6 million restoration, which includes a renovated plaza, restoration of the main fountain, expanded lawns, new planting beds, an enhanced playground, a stage, a dog run, a new chess plaza, as well as improved seating areas, fencing, light poles and paths.



About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor de Blasio’s lenses of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, new or upgraded roadways, sewers, water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $15 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative, and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to city projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.