SOM Selected To Design New York City’s First Net Zero Energy School Building

February 9, 2011 (New York, New York) - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the New York‐based architectural firm, has been selected to design New York City’s (and the State’s) first Net Zero Energy school building.

The school, Public School 62, which will be located on a 3.5‐acre site at the intersection of Crabtree Avenue and Bloomingdale Road in Staten Island, will be a 444‐seat, 70,000 square‐foot primary school that will include pre‐Kindergarten and Kindergarten. Roger Duffy, FAIA, SOM Design Partner and head of the firm’s Education Lab called this project, “an extraordinary opportunity to help define a new paradigm for school buildings for New York City and beyond.”

In its request for proposals, the SCA described its intentions for this project as follows: “Using this unique project as a vehicle, the SCA will explore new and higher levels of sustainability by embarking on the design of a Net Zero Energy School Building. Recognizing New York City’s commitment to sustainability in general, and to energy conservation specifically, we will challenge ourselves to go beyond building code and design standards to realize innovative energy and carbon reductions exceeding our current achievements. We want to push the envelope on this advanced green design project, which will be our ‘sustainability lab.’ “

The SCA has made substantial progress to date on energy saving and sustainable initiatives with their NYC Green Schools Guide. This exploration into ultimate sustainability and the subsequent evaluation of our exercise will provide substantial benefits to our School Design Program and help achieve PlaNYC goals for significant reductions in global warming emissions.

SOM is a leader in sustainable design and net zero energy innovation, creating sustainable solutions for a wide variety of clients, including schools. Highlights of SOM’s own sustainable design work include our net zero energy strategy for Pearl River Tower in China, currently under construction, and our University Center for the New School, here in New York. SOM also offers a unique research and development collaboration with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute called the Center for Architectural Science and Ecology (CASE), which is dedicated to applying the latest scientific research to today’s sustainable design challenges. At CASE, multi‐disciplinary scientists, researchers, and design professionals, work together to design, develop and implement next‐generation systems within actual building projects as research test beds. SOM’s Education Lab has also built an extraordinary portfolio of higher education projects and K‐ 12 schools – including Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT, Burr Street School in Fairfield, CT and others in New York City and throughout the Northeast.

About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urbanplanning firms in the world, with a 75‐year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,400 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. In its May 2010 issue, Architect Magazine named SOM the #1 architectural firm in its Architect 50 list. In forming its rankings, the magazine placed a premium on “ecological commitment and design quality”. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco,  Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Brussels, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.