Riverhouse environmental design features

The glass curtain wall of Riverhouse will offer more than sweeping views of the Hudson River: Its innovative ventilation cavity and integrated window blinds will reduce heat gain, beating touch energy codes by more than 20 percent. And its full western exposure ensures that the rooftop photovoltaic installation produces 5 percent of the buildings electrical needs without pumping greenhouse-gas emissions into the air.

These are only two of the many sustainable design initiatives that help Riverhouse meet the strict standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, a voluntary building standard that is transforming the buildings in which we live and work.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, established design benchmarks for green buildings, in terms of site and water management, energy use, indoor air quality, and material selection. Each design choice gains a point towards achieving one of LEED’s performance categories—Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Of 600 LEED buildings nationwide, only 16 new buildings score 52 or more points to achieve the highest Platinum standard; Riverhouse would join a select group of 117 new buildings that, at 39 points and above, qualify for Gold.

Asher Derman runs Green October, a sustainable design consultancy responsible for more than 3 million square feet of eco-friendly buildings. Prior to helping Riverhouse’s architects identify sustainable design strategies, he served on the task force that developed Battery Park City’s Residential and Commercial Environmental Guidelines.

Derman says that while energy efficiency and state-of-the-art systems will improve the building’s operation and lessen the impact of the environment, residents will feel the benefits every time they take a breath.

“Conserving energy is really conserving environmental quality,” Derman Says, “and that turns into health benefits from high indoor air quality.” Riverhouses’ windows, for example minimizes energy loss while guaranteeing that each apartment will be heated and cooled through the building’s filtered enviromental systems. It is just one of a long list of design features that benefit health, sooth the soul—and add up to Gold.

Riverhouse environmental design features

1. Rooftop photovoltaics score one LEED point as a renewable energy source. Riverhouse’s PVs track the journey of the sun in order to maximize their effectiveness.
2. Woods from forests that have been certified as renewable or responsibly harvested is used in residential and amenity spaces throughout the building.
3. Special paints, adhesives, and sealants that don’t contain odorous and irritable volatile organic compounds were specified for Riverhouse, which qualifies for as many as four additional LEED points.
4. The glass curtain wall affords residents complete access to views and daylight on every side of the building, which conserves energy by lessening the dependence on electrical lighting and contributes to a healthier lifestyle.
5. Lobby spaces are heated and cooled using geothermal wells which tap deep within the Earth to supply systems with water at a constant temperature, thereby lessening the need for electrical and natural gas-powered mechanical system equipment year-round.
6. Water-saving faucets and dual flush toilets contribute to maximum water conservation, which reduces the total amount of water drawn from city resevoirs.
7. Energy demand is further reduced by two 60-kilowatt microturbines using natural gas to supply electricity to the building while also contributing heat for domestic hot water and space heating.
8. The innovative triple-glazed “blue technology” curtain wall, in combination with the sealed aluminum window frames, contribute to Riverhouse’s success at beating New York State’s energy code by 20 percent.
9. Storm water run-off is captured in one of the building’s green roofs, which are planted with self-sustaining varieties of shrubs, grasses, and small trees. green roofs also contribute to lowering the “heat island” effect, in which paved surfaces retain heat in cities. In addition to irrigation, rainwater will be used in the building’s mechanical system cooling tower, lowering the building’s overall water usage.
10. Programmable thermostats in each apartment and carbon monoxide censors in Riverhouse’s parking garage are but two of the example of fine-tuning the building’s control systems so that electrical and environmental systems are operating as needed.

- Frank Downing