Bank of America Tower (Manhattan): Difference between revisions
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The Bank Of America's tower will also be able to leave a positive mark on the water saving techniques. The gray water system will be able to store the rain water and reuse it. |
The Bank Of America's tower will also be able to leave a positive mark on the water saving techniques. The gray water system will be able to store the rain water and reuse it. |
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All of these environmentally-friendly features have come with a price tag of $3.5 million of the total cost of the building of $1.2 billion, but the entrepreneurs are expecting to recover the cost in few years with the energy they will save. |
All of these environmentally-friendly features have come with a price tag of $3.5 million of the total cost of the building of $1.2 billion, but the entrepreneurs are expecting to recover the cost in few years with the energy they will save. oooooooooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllll |
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==Environmental advantages== |
==Environmental advantages== |
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Revision as of 17:07, 13 July 2007
The Bank of America Tower in New York City is a $1 billion skyscraper project currently undergoing construction, on the west side of Sixth Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd Street, opposite Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. It has been designed to be one of the most highly efficient and ecologically friendly buildings in the world. Construction is expected to be complete in 2008. As its name indicates, Bank of America Corporation will be its anchor tenant.
Details
The tower will have two spires: an architectural one that is 1,200 feet (366 m) tall (including antenna), and a 960 foot (293 m) one that will have a wind turbine that will generate electricity for the building. The building will be 54 stories high and will have approximately 2.2 million square feet (204,000 m²) of office space. Upon its scheduled completion, the tower will become the second tallest building in New York City, after the Empire State Building.
Several buildings were demolished to make way for the Bank of America Tower, the tallest being the Remington Building.
Features
The construction of the Bank Of America tower was done by using concrete manufactured with the byproduct of blast furnaces. The proportions used in the tower concrete are around 55% ordinary cement and 45% slag cement. In fact the mixture of cement and slag cement makes the concrete stronger. Use of byproduct slag cement also causes less damage to the planet by reducing the carbon dioxide produced by normal cement manufacturing, where each ton of cement produced yields a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The temperature of Bank of America's tower and the production of some of its energy will be done in a very environment-friendly manner. The insulating glass will bring down the thermal loss which will result in lower energy consumption and increased transparency. Carbon dioxide sensors will increase the flow of fresh air when considerably high levels of carbon dioxide are detected in the atmosphere of the building. A unique thermal system is also introduced in the tower which will take advantage in off peak time. This system will be involved in production of ice during off-peak hours which will be used to reduce the temperature of the building during peak times. The blue print of the Bank of America tower also includes a 4.6 megawatt cogeneration plant which will fulfill the energy requirements by supplying clean energy.
The Bank Of America's tower will also be able to leave a positive mark on the water saving techniques. The gray water system will be able to store the rain water and reuse it.
All of these environmentally-friendly features have come with a price tag of $3.5 million of the total cost of the building of $1.2 billion, but the entrepreneurs are expecting to recover the cost in few years with the energy they will save. oooooooooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllll
Environmental advantages
In Bank of America's report on the construction of the building, it cited that the design of the building will make it environmentally friendly, using technologies such as wind turbines, translucent floor-to-ceiling insulating glass to contain heat and maximize natural light, and LED lights, which automatically dim during the daytime. The tower also features a greywater system, which captures rainwater and reuses it. Bank of America also states that the building will be made largely of recycled and recyclable materials.[1]
Another interesting innovation is that not only is air entering the building purified to an impressive degree, but the air exhausted is also cleaner, thus effectively making the tower a giant air filter for Midtown Manhattan.[2]
The first skyscraper ever to attain a Platinum LEED Certification, 1 Bryant Park is being called "The World's Most Sustainable Skyscraper."[3]
Second tallest vs Fourth tallest
When comparing building height, only the structural height is used, according to rules and regulations of the World Council on Tall Buildings.[4]
In this case, it is debatable as to whether what is being called an "architectural spire" by the developer[5] will count towards the structural height. Doing a comparison of the Bank of America Tower to the current second tallest building, the Chrysler Building, it seems as though the Chrysler Building is smaller when comparing two factors:
| Tip Height |
Roof Height | |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Tower | 1,200 ft | 944.5 ft |
| Chrysler Building | 1,046 ft | 925 ft |
A formal ruling by the World Council on Tall Buildings has yet to be released.
Criticism
The tower drew some early criticism when announced in 2003. Critics denounced its usage of $650 million in tax-free liberty bonds, money which was intended to rebuild lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 attacks. They also questioned Bank of America's efforts at retaining jobs in the new tower, referencing a deal in 1993 where the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) allowed Bank of America to move into Tower One of the World Trade Center on the condition that they employed 1,300 workers; however, the number of workers dropped to 830 in 1998.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and governor George Pataki countered the criticism by citing the building's environmentally-friendly design and claiming that it will generate enough jobs to compensate for expenses. The IDA also stated that it will concentrate on job retention, and set specific dates with a certain amount of workers needed to acquire full payout; for example, the tower must have at least 4,400 workers by June 30, 2028.
Companies involved in construction
- Developer - Durst Organization
- Architect - Cook+Fox Architects, LLP Cook+Fox Architects
- General Contractor - Tishman Construction Corporation
- Structural Steel Subcontractor - Owen Steel Company, Inc.
- Interior Construction - Structure Tone, Inc.