Platinum Exhibit

Queens Botanical Garden Goes for the Green

by Jason Fargo

One of the most environmentally advanced construction projects ever launched in New York City is taking place at the Queens Botanical Garden. The urban oasis in the Flushing District of Queens is adding a new visitor and administration building aiming for platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

Located just outside Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the 16-acre garden was founded in 1939 as an exhibit at the New York World’s Fair. As part of its mission, the garden seeks to promote the virtues of environmental sustainability to its more than 300,000 annual visitors, says Susan Lacerte, the garden’s executive director.

When the garden’s staff and board decided to construct the new building, they approached the city’s Department of Design and Construction and suggested making the project a showcase for environmentally sound building methods. The garden hit its mark, says John Krieble, director of sustainable design at the city agency.

“They really have established themselves as a leader in the area of sustainable building design,” he adds.

Construction began on the 15,831-sq-ft visitor and administration center in August 2004, and the job is slated for completion this spring, several months behind schedule. Sited on what had been a parking lot, the new building houses reception and gallery spaces, meeting rooms, and offices for garden staff, as well as an adjoining auditorium.

The new building is designed to meld into the natural surroundings, says Julia Nelson, an associate with BKSK Architects of New York, which was the project architect. It will replace an existing masonry building that currently stands at the park’s main gates and that will soon be demolished in order to create a more environmentally friendly entrance.

“The new structures are designed to be part of the garden’s landscape as well as part of its overall mission,” Nelson says.

For example, the auditorium structure, which is built from self-consolidating architectural concrete, has a green roof that starts at ground level and slopes upward. In addition to reducing heating and cooling demands on the complex, the roof garden will have a public pathway to showcase different types of plants.

In addition, the exterior cladding of the main administration building consists of red cedar wood from sustainably managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which also counts toward the LEED goal, says Jennifer Ward Souder, director of capital projects for the garden.

“Almost all of our wood, either on the exterior or interior, is FSC-certified and/or salvaged, including the formwork that we used for the concrete,” she adds.

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The building design further reinforces interaction with the water through the incorporation of three pedestrian bridges that cross the waterways, Nelson says.

The self-contained water management system that circulates through the site is the most visibly green feature of the plan.  A major element involves the collection and filtering of rainwater.

All rainwater from the complex is directed by gravity into a stream that cuts diagonally between the building’s main section and the auditorium. It drains into a pool, called a biotope, with specially selected plants like bulrushes and cattails that filter out impurities, Lacerte says. Different layers of soil and gravel in the pond also cleanse particles from the water. A large, underground cistern will be able to store excess rainwater.

Meanwhile, the system also has constructed wetlands, which consist of marsh grasses, to cleanse the new building’s “gray” water. This wastewater from sinks, showers, and kitchens will drain into settling tanks and then flow through the wetlands for cleansing.

All of the reclaimed water will be used for the building’s toilets or irrigation of planted areas. The only water from the building that is not cleansed and kept onsite is the dirty water from public toilets, Krieble says.

“Something that’s really amazing about the design is that none of the rainwater that lands on the building or around the building goes into the city sewer,” he says.

The water systems are a key component of the garden’s bid for LEED platinum, and could account for up to 7 of the 52 points needed to achieve that top level, which only one other project in New York, the offices of Cook + Fox, a New York architectural firm, has achieved.

“We’re hopefully going to get innovation points on top of the regular points for both the conservation and the innovative stormwater technique,” Souder says.

The building also relies on natural water deposits under the site to supply a geothermal heating and cooling system.  In the winter, the system draws heat from the water, which is a constant 55 degrees, and in summer, heat pumps transfer excess heat back to the wells. The system will trim the garden’s annual heating and cooling bill by about 30% compared to a traditional HVAC system, Krieble says.

Another design feature helping the building blend into the environment is a sliding glass window system with an exterior screen composed of fixed, horizontal wood slats, says Joan Krevlin, a BKSK partner. The screen, known as a brise-soleil, keeps out the elements when the windows are open, while also deflecting the hot summer sun or allowing the lower winter sun to provide light.

In addition, the roof above the offices, has photovoltaic panels that will generate about 17% of the building’s electricity. The  New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided a $200,000 grant to install the panels and build the geothermal system.

The main steel and precast concrete plank building has 25-ft clear spans as well as the primary architectural flourish – a soaring 27-ft-tall steel-framed canopy structure that will cover an outdoor terrace. The undulating shape, which will have a zinc underface, will create a cascading flow for stormwater drainage.

Clay soils required all of the structures, including the cistern, to be built on piles, BKSK’s Nelson says. Work on the main building is slated to wrap up this month and the overall project ends in June with the completion of a parking lot with special natural drainage features.

With the project falling under the state’s Wicks Law, which requires public agencies to have separate contracts with the major trades, complex elements of the project, such as the gray-water treatment system, became even more challenging, involving not only the prime plumbing contractor but also the prime mechanical and electrical contractors as well as the landscaping team, Krevlin says.

“You really rely on a collaborative effort,” she adds.

Tom Stabile contributed to this report.

Key Players

Owner: Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing, N.Y.

Architect: BKSK Architects, New York

General Construction: Stonewall Contracting, College Point, N.Y.

Plumbing Contractor: Pinnacle Plumbing & Heating, Flushing

Electrical Contractor: AARCO Electric, Brooklyn

Mechanical Contractor: AWL Industries, Brooklyn

Landscape Design: Conservation Design Forum, Elmhurst, Ill.

M-E-P Design: P.A. Collins, New York

Water-Landscape Design: Atelier Dreiseitl, Germany