Climate Center Will Utilize Only Building Material That Grows on Trees
The partners behind the planned New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island have released new details about the project, which is budgeted at $700 million, projected to break ground next year, and expected to open in 2029. Envisioned as a a global hub where education, research, job creation, policy development, and public programming will converge to formulate and implement climate solutions, the 400,000-square foot campus will blend 230,000 square feet of new construction with 170,000 square feet of restored historic buildings. The campus layout is slated to include an additional four acres of new public open space, which will join the island’s existing 120 acres of park land.
Now being designed by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the Climate Exchange will be the first significant construction project in New York to use “mass timber,” an eco-friendly substitute for the traditional building materials of concrete and steel. Also known as cross-laminated timber (CLT), this is essentially plywood in which each layer (or “ply”) is solid hardwood an inch or more thick, rather than the cardboard width of the strata in ordinary plywood. The result is a building material that compares favorably to steel-reinforced concrete when strength is measured against weight, can often be less expensive, and has a much lower carbon footprint than the production of either steel or concrete. The buildings will vary from four to eight stories tall, while also incorporating solar and geo-thermal power sources. (The two main buildings will be connected by an undulating canopy covered with photovoltaic cells, meant to evoke the hills of Governors Island’s landscape in their sinuous contours.)
In a further nod to the climate dangers that the research center will seek to mitigate, its base will be elevated approximately eight feet over the nearby waterfront, to protect against storms and rising sea levels.
The New York Climate Exchange project is being led by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, along with a consortium of university, business, and nonprofit partners. Research will focus on three broad themes: environmental justice and inclusion; energy, water, and food systems; and sustainable urban environments.