Bronx, New York

Employees on their lunch break at the Center for Global Conservation (CGC) recently paused to observe wild turkeys roaming in front of the building. In the northwest corner of the Bronx Zoo’s 265 acres of New York City parkland, this display isn’t a rare occurrence. Nor is the sight of Inca terns swooping in the seabird aviary across from the CGC headquarters. Muskrats and goldfinches visit, too. Perhaps these creatures continue to treat the turf as their own because the rectangular, elongated three-story building — which achieved LEED Gold Certification in 2009 — seems as natural to the site as the two rock outcroppings it bridges.

The CGC, designed by FXFOWLE, houses several Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) programs. WCS operates the largest network of wildlife parks in the world, including the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and Prospect Park Zoo, and operates over 500 conservation programs in more than 65 countries. Until the new headquarters was completed in 2009, WCS employees were scattered in buildings across the Bronx Zoo. FXFOWLE, which had previously renovated the zoo’s Lion House in 2008, consolidated various programs with diverse needs at an unused edge of the park. After looking at various configurations, the firm designed the building to intrude as little as possible on the landscape, even inflecting it to save two trees. WCS employees now benefit from chance encounters. “It’s really changed our relationship. Proximity is everything,” says Susan Chin, vice president of planning and design and chief architect for WCS.

In mild weather, employees eat and work outside on the generous terraces. This was the hope, says FXFOWLE senior partner Sylvia Smith. “Rather than give everyone a private office, we created good workspaces and conference rooms and then extended the building with the outdoor space,” she says, pointing to a patio that is the same size as the staff dining room. “We did a lot of pairing, trying to blur the line.” When employees sit outside in front of the building they find themselves in the middle of a marshlike valley thick with native grasses.

Park visitors pass close to the private building, but it is set back in the landscape, creating the sense that the CGC is in the middle of the woods, not New York City. A berm built into the natural landscape frames a promenade that guides visitors to its entrance — they are welcome to use its outdoor dining spaces and explore the property.

Smith led a recent tour of the building that began on the ground floor. A glass and poured-in-place concrete entrance leads to a flight of stairs and the real arrival space — the second floor’s combined lounge and library — where windows look out to Fordham Road and the New York Botanical Garden beyond. FXFOWLE wanted occupants to feel framed by the landscape, says Smith. The main conference room, located to the south of the lounge, is an elegant example of this design principle, with a raised floor, clean detailing, and a cantilevered roof that extends the room into the woods.  Working with ornithologists at the CGC and the New York Audubon Society, the firm designed two floor-to-ceiling insulated glass walls made of a type of glazing that birds see as opaque. To humans, the glass looks pleasantly and subtly pinstriped. The CGC is in a migratory path, and the conference room is in the most wooded corner, making this a necessary measure. Rectangular red sandstone panels line the back of the conference room. Salvaged from the renovation of the 1903 Lion House, they are a reminder of place and history. In other areas, cleared trees from the site were milled and repurposed for trim.

On all three floors, bathrooms, copy rooms, and other support spaces are clustered at the off-center core. Private offices face north, while open, flexible office spaces face south. Approximately 140 people currently work in the building and there is room for more. “Within a fairly compact footprint, it doesn’t feel constrained,” says Smith of the private offices, thanks to minimal furniture that can be easily rearranged. Large windows on the northern and southern facades, as well as glazing in the private offices out to the hallways, allow light to penetrate the depth of the building. A window punctuating the westernmost edge of the building shows a view of a gas-fired 400 kW micro-turbine power system that supplies 100 percent of the building’s electricity. Waste heat from the micro-turbines is used for heating and cooling the CGC, and for domestic hot water.

Another important component — just as seamlessly integrated — is the sloping intensive green roof that doubles as egress. It begins on the third floor next to an outdoor patio and continues to ground level. Native grasses, flowers, and shrubs nearly obscure the outline of a walking path. During the tour, Smith and Chin casually pulled out overgrowth while chatting about gardening. Knowing that many green roofs fail because of leaks, the FXFOWLE team conducted comprehensive water testing on the CGC’s roof. Louvers made of locally grown black locust striate the southern facade of the building, adding a weathered aesthetic to the glass and concrete. Smith notes that black locust is one of the hardest woods and is used elsewhere in the park. The louvers mimic a moveable Cumaro wood screen that helps shade the staff dining room.

Chin says she hears repeatedly from occupants and visitors that they love the building. It’s the kind of feedback that the animals in the exhibits she designs can’t give. “These [outdoor] seats are filled in good weather. People bring their laptops out. It’s actually getting used the way we hoped it would,” she says. “I feel like we grew up a little when we came here.”

Location:
The Bronx Zoo
2300 Southern Boulevard
Bronx, NY 10460

Completion Date: June 2009

Gross square footage:
Building gross floor area: 35,146 square feet
Building footprint area: 15,493 square feet
Total conditioned square footage: 33,000 square feet

Construction cost: $29 million

People

Client: The Wildlife Conservation Society

LEED
LEED Gold Certification under LEED-NC v2.1 as of June 2009.

Architect: 
FXFOWLE
22 West 19 Street
New York, NY 10011
212-627-1700

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Sylvia Smith, FAIA, LEED, Senior Partner
Susan Masi, AIA, LEED, Associate
Thomas Fox
Paul Kim
Danny MacNelly
Nicholas Hollot
Brian Foster
Dan Piselli, LEED

Interiors: Guy Geier, FAIA, FIIDA, LEED, Managing Partner
Rod Hammer
Suraj Bhatia
Audi Banny, LEED
Lauren Zailyk

Architect of record:FXFOWLE

Interior designer: FXFOWLE

Engineer(s)
MEP Engineers:      
Kallen & Lemelson, Consulting Engineers
250 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
www.klengineers.com

Structural Engineers:             
DeSimone Consulting Engineers
18 West 18th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10011
www.de-simone.com

Civil/Geotechnical Engineers:               
Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
21 Penn Plaza
360 West 31st Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10001
www.langan.com

Consultant(s)
Landscape:
HM White Site Architects
130 West 29th Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10001
www.hmwhitesa.com

Lighting:
Brandston Partnership Inc.
302 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10001
www.brandston.com

Acoustical:
Cerami & Associates, Inc.
404 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
www.ceramiassociates.com

Other:
LEED Review:         
Viridian Energy & Environmental, LLC
50 Washington Street
Norwalk, CT 06854
www.viridianee.com
                               
Construction Cost Estimating:               
Davis Langdon
370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2500
New York, NY 10017
www.davislangdon.com
               
Specifications:        
Construction Specifications, Inc.
22 Tennent Road
P. O. Box 488
Morganville, NJ 07751
www.constructionspex.com
               
Code Consultant/Expeditor:                   
Design 2147
52 Diamond Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Environmental Assessment:                  
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
www.sri.com

General contractor
Richter+Ratner
1370 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10018
www.richterratner.com

Photographer(s)
David Sundberg
914-698-4060
d.sundberg@verizon.net

 

Products

Structural system
Cast-in-place reinforced concrete: Flyash as replacement for 25% (by weight) of Portland Cement provided by Byram Concrete.  Reinforcing bar, steel wire, welded wire fabric 50% post-industrial/post-consumer recycled content.  Concrete forms: 100% reusable components.

Exterior cladding
Masonry: 
CMU: Locally-manufactured.

Metal/glass curtain wall:
Curtain wall: Aluminum extrusions with 20% post-consumer    recycled content, 30% post-industrial recycled content  – US Aluminum,  fabricated by Competition Architectural Metals, Inc.

Curtain Wall Glazing: 1” VE1-40 Insulating Glass Units - Viracon

Wood:
Custom Sunscreen:  Locally grown and milled black locust certified and supplied by CitiLog.

EIFS, ACM, or other:
Blanket insulation: Recycled content low-VOC – Certainteed

Roofing
Low-slope roofing:
Membrane roofing and roof insulation: White TPO “Versiweld” membrane by Versico; tapered rigid board R20 insulation by Atlas

Sloped roofing:
Intensive green roof system: American Hydrotech
Membrane testing: Electric Field Vector Mapping by International Leak Detection

Windows
Operable awning and casement windows - Curtain wall: Aluminum extrusions with 20% post-consumer  recycled content, 30% post-industrial recycled content – US Aluminum and Competition Architectural Metals, Inc.

Glazing
Glass: 
1” Low-E Vision Insulating Glass Units – Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope SunGlass Insulating Units.

Fixed unit glass at Main Conference Room – Bird-safe glass: Isolar Neutralux Ornilux manufactured by Glaswerke Arnold     

Skylights:
Aluminum  framing:  60% recycled content manufactured by Bonnell Aluminum, fabricated by Lynbrook Glass & Architectural Metals Corp.

Glazing: 1 5/16” Low-E IGU, PPG Solarban 60, fabricated by J.E. Berkowitz LLP

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork :
Regionally sourced quarter-sawn maple veneer on Duraflake particle board substrate.  Millwork fabricated by Daniel DeMarco and Associates, Inc.

Wood trim:
Milled from on-site trees felled and milled by CitiLog
               
Special surfacing:
Main Conference Room feature wall:  Sandstone slabs salvaged from the Bronx Zoo Lion House.

Stone flooring: Vermont bluestone pavers (entry, dining lounge, pantry, gathering spaces, conference room, and outdoor spaces

Flooring:
Raised access floor: Stringer-type system – Tec-Crete I (offices, open office areas, conference rooms), Tec-Crete II (data closets and server room) by Haworth. 100% recycled from another building.

Entry Mat System: Clean Tread Stainless Steel Grating KD SSS by KADEE

Carpet:
Carpet Tile: High recycled content – Mantra 13820 by Interface

Ceiling:
Metal acoustical tile with wood veneer – Ceilings Plus
Acoustical tile – Cirrus by Armstrong

Furnishings
Office furniture:
Systems Furniture: “Answer” System by Steelcase with “About Face” panel fabric by Design Tex

Reception furniture:
Side table – Maya Lin Polyethylene Stones by Knoll Studio
               
Chairs:
Task Chair - Leap 462 Series by Steelcase
Conference Room Chair – Eames Aluminum Group Management Chair by Herman Miller
Stacking Chair – Zephyr by Stylex
Exterior Loose Seating - .03 chair by Vitra
Plank Chair by ICF Group

Tables:
Dining and exterior terrace table – 20-0-6 Square Café Table by Emeco
Conference room table – Vox by ICF Nienkamper

Other furniture:
Tackboards – Polyvision

Lighting
Low-voltage and fluorescent lighting:  Lightolier, Linear Lighting,  Lightcontrol, Alkco

Direct/Indirect fluorescent lighting:  Zumtobel

Lighting control system:  Lutron
               
LED fixtures:  Z-Bar by Koncept Technologies, Inc
               
Exterior: Fluorescent and LED lighting with daylight sensors: Bega, FC Lighting

Plumbing
Dual flush high efficiency toilet – Walvit by Caroma International
Faucets – Self-generating EcoPower System Sensor Faucet with Helix Spout by Toto
Shower – Hiflow Rite-Temp by Kohler 

Energy
Energy management or building automation system:
Building Automation System – Alerton

Add any additional building components or special equipment that made a significant contribution to this project:
Power generation – Heating/Cooling:
Integrated 400 KW micro-turbine chiller/heater power system:
Pre-engineered package by Carrier/United Technologies

Heating/Cooling:
Condensing back-up boilers – Aerco
Raised Floor Fan Powered Boxes – Titus
Raised Floor Swirl Diffusers – Titus
Variable air volume terminal boxes – Titus
Computer room hot aisle/cold aisle HVAC system – APC
Variable Frequency Drives – Allen Bradley