By Stephen Stirling
Officials at Queens Botanical Garden are soon going to have to develop plans for a “green” trophy case.
The Garden's Visitor and Administration Building has won three awards for architectural excellence and environmental leadership, most recently from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, since opening last October.
Queens Botanical Garden Executive Director Susan Lacerte and the firm that designed the garden's new central building, BKSK Architects, received the EPA's Environmental Quality Award in Manhattan late last month. The award recognizes companies, groups and individuals who have shown extraordinary leadership in environmental issues.
Just days earlier, the American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Environment commended the Visitor and Administraiton building and 10 other buildings for “excellence in sustainable architecture.” The New York Chapter of the AIA also bestowed the Queens Botanical Garden with the first-ever Sustainable Design Award in February.
Opened in October, the $24 million Visitor and Administration Building was touted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as “an important model for future construction in the city.”
Among the building's features are a green roof that absorbs rainwater, preventing stormwater run-off, solar panels that provide 20 percent of the building's power and sloped roofs that channel rainwater toward a wetland water circuit, where native plants naturally cleanse the water before it is reused in the building.
Inside, composting toilets minimize water use and provide fertilizer for the garden while a geothermal heating and cooling system taps into the earth's natural temperature cycle to keep the building's occupants comfortable at a substantial savings of energy over traditional systems.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
