The $1 billion Bank of America Tower at one Bryant Park in New York City is not only beautiful to look at, but it is extremely environment friendly too. Designed by Cook+Fox Architects, this skyscraper is currently being constructed on the west side of Sixth Avenue (between 42nd and 43rd Street). This ecologically friendly and efficient building is expected to be completed by 2009. It will be 55 storeys high and after completion will be the second highest building in New York City (the first being the Empire State Building). The Bank of America Tower is being constructed mostly of recycled and recyclable building materials, with an emphasis on sustainability, water efficiency, and indoor environmental quality. It will feature numerous sophisticated environmental technologies including filtered under-floor displacement air ventilation, advanced double-wall technology and translucent insulating glass in floor-to-ceiling windows that permit maximum daylight and optimum views. The building’s energy requirements will be met with a state-of-the-art onsite 4.6-megawatt cogeneration plant. The large transparent windows of the Bank of America Tower will be used very effectively to cut energy costs by lighting the building naturally. Can you imagine how much energy savings there will be? The savings will in fact help to sustain the long-term operation of its 9 major global trading floors (ranging in size from 43,000 to 99,000 square feet). This 2.1 million square-foot green skyscraper, is the first to attain a Platinum LEED Certification (Green Building Rating System developed by the U.S. Green Building Council), is very water efficient too. The greywater system installed in the building will be able to store rain water and reuse it. I am sure this energy efficient, environmentally friendly Bank of America tower in Midtown Manhattan will lead the change in the way high-rise buildings are built in the future. Image Source
