It's my pleasure.

She Welcome to the stage
to Julie you know moto.

Julie thanks for

being here at Tech and having these
opportunities as George talked about to

delve into building systems and
technologies and even in taking

of Dr Craig Zimring introduction to
environments and behaviors class.

I was really struck by this
intellectual curiosity for

developing the systems of
the buildings because they're really

well they're part and parcel of our
designs in realizing our designs but

also about the social aspects
of architecture as well and

living in Paris and
studying as part of the Paris program and

then afterward living in Japan really
underscored this kind of cultural

necessity to architecture and
the obligations we have as professionals.

So as George mentioned Afterwards I
spent some time at Columbia and

then after that started at
es Salaam straight away.

And Robyn it S so out of I've been
fortunate enough to work on a wide

variety of projects across
the last decade and most

of them being commercial office towers but
also some other projects as well.

And what's most fascinating to me is
that I've been able to carve out this.

Space in my practice to look not only
at projects because projects are very

important but I think there are three kind
of pillars to architectural profession and

one is the projects where you actually
realize and implement your ideas but

the other is designed research and
how we can continue to develop and

push the profession in the manufacturing
industries and the systems

in our buildings and then the third is our
own social responsibility as architect.

In our reaction or
interaction with the built environment and

a larger global context from a from us.

It's a social responsibility perspective.

So in addition to the projects
that you see up here.

Most of them are in New York but
there I had a brief stint in Asia with

a project in Malaysia and
then another one in Korea in Seoul and

briefly worked on a project in the Middle
East as well which which I'll talk

about in a bit but being able to spend
some time working with case the Center for

architecture science and ecology which
I think in a Dyson was here a couple

years ago and shared with you some of the
next generation systems that are there.

They're developing.

And also S.O.M.'s own high
performance design initiative.

I But what probably most of you
are interested in hearing about tonight is

the World Trade Center project.

I'm sure many of you have read about it.

How many of you can tell
me where you were on

September eleventh two thousand and one.

It's one of those defining
defining moments.

I had just arrived in New York City and
it was a beautiful day like today.

You know blue sky hardly any
clouds on the Upper West Side and

even though I was a student at Columbia
and on the same island of Manhattan.

It was an incredibly different experience.

And so I experienced the same.

Well the same way that you did
September eleventh through the T.V.

through the media and it wasn't until
about three o'clock late afternoon that

you start to see these plumes of smoke on
the horizon and you start to realize that.

Yeah this is this is really
happening in this is real.

So it was an awful event and
it was a really a tragedy and so

many lives were lost and and that
event also changed the discourse of a.

Architecture for several years to calm.

There were lots of questions that we were
asking ourselves would we continue to

build tall buildings is the typo
G of the skyscraper finished

the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat defines a super tall building as

a constructed structure over three
hundred feet tall or over a kilometer.

And you can see that in the early
up until the ninety's really all of

the super tall were in the United States
and then there was a shift to Asia and

Asia ruled the world of super talls and
now it's in the Middle East.

So.

We were asking you know
would we continue with this

you know would we put back
towers on that on that site.

A dense urban cities be abandoned for
security reasons.

This is the Goldman Sachs tower in
Jersey City right across the street or

right across the Hudson River from lower
Manhattan and this project started in

the beginning of two thousand and one and
this is a photo from two thousand and two.

And at that time you know kind of
indicators were pointing to evacuation

of lower Manhattan towards the suburbs and
I think to the credit of Mayor Bloomberg

there were a lot of initiatives put in
place to kind of bring industry and

commercial business back to Lower
Manhattan and also to develop the area.

Goldman Sachs now has a headquarters
immediately to the northwest of our site

in Lower Manhattan and it's a great
building and it's really changed and

they were good as well.

There were questions about how we stitch
back together the urban fabric of

lower Manhattan.

As you can see there was a huge
kind of void left by this

everything below fourteenth Street and
then below house and street was in excess.

Civil you couldn't drive down
there couldn't walk down there.

Even people that live there were
prevented from returning to their homes

because there were
concerns about safety and

security and
the the quality of the environment.

And the biggest question of
all what should the restored

World Trade Center site look
like what should it be.

I personally believe that
Larry Silverstein and the.

The mayor and the other stakeholders and

agencies in lower Manhattan where on the
right track when they said you know it's

really important to revitalize lower
Manhattan to bring commercial.

And commercial uses back to that site and

really kind of catapult on not in
terms of increasing the residential

opportunities downtown adding to
the street life and the amenities

down there when you build the residential
then all of this stuff blossoms up and

I mentioned the Golden Sachs building they
have this wonderful arcade at the base of

their building that they've populated with
all these really nice retail shops as well

so restaurants and flower shops chocolate
all those things and the neighborhood

is drastically changed now from what
it was in the early early two thousand.

Condé Nast the media giant has
signed a million square foot lease

one World Trade Center.

And that population also will drastically
change the neighborhood because it will no

longer be just bankers and finance
folks now the spectrum is broader and

wider So I think a lot of great
things coming for Lower Manhattan.

Every construction worker that
I've met trades on there is so

excited to be a part of
the rebuilding process.

I hear a lot of stories about how their
father their grandfather worked on

the original twin towers and they're
proud to be carrying the torch on for

the next generations and.

This passion in this dedication for
their work and

I work is some of the things that
I'd like to share with you tonight.

So not on like designing a single family
home or a restaurant there are lots of

stakeholders involved in the design
process and a lot of different opinions.

So whether or not they're the client or
the client spouse or

the shaft the manager the FRONT OF HOUSE
in the back of house staff.

All of these stakeholders have their own
contributions to the design process.

We may have a few more sick holders in the
process and your chart may look a little

more complicated but essentially it's the
same model is more than just a designer.

But also a peacemaker conciliatory or

advocate innovator advisor and
a technical expert.

Because our clients and the community
look to us for all of those things.

So I want to spend some time today talking
about innovation and collaboration and

I have to say it's really humbling
to work on a project like this.

There are so many people involved and
I talked about some of the agencies in

the in the outside people but
it's really about this team and

this is the architecture team at S O one
when we were in our design phases and

I apologize for the quality image that's
actually a scan from the New York Times.

But but this is the team.

These are the people that
develop the building systems.

The design and refine the materials and
experiment to in materials

in order to realize a very
challenging goals of this project.

Of course there are very long list of
consultants as well that participated

in the process.

You probably see.

A rat of information on you know
from the architectural journals and

such about the design
of the building itself.

I'm happy to talk about this later for
you guys like but

I thought today that I would
focus on the process and

innovation within that I mean
the kind of geometry in the fifty

foot lobbies clad in Italian marble
the observation deck that kind of

direct connection to the access of
the subway in the retail below grade.

Those are all things that you
can read about in a magazine and

maybe some of this other stuff that I'm
talking about is insider information.

Seven World Trade Center really changed
the commercial landscape in New York City.

It was the first building that was
completed as a legal building and

I think it was the pivot
point where developers and

the public realize that I can have a green
building that's also beautiful and

I can have something that
meets my financial targets and

is beautiful and green and green is
becoming part of my marketing strategy for

you know this is a speculative office
development so the developer has to fill

it up with tenets and what do the tenants
look for to come here to this building.

So it's it's legal it's Energy Star

nine hundred ninety percentile which
means that it's ninety percent better

than the other buildings in its
class which is pretty good.

As you probably know we investigated all
sorts of energy strategies throughout

the development this project we started
out with building integrated wind turbines

this is a photo of the wind tunnel.

Up in Canada where we're physically
testing the the wind turbulence and

laminar flow through the wind tunnel
to understand the impacts and

the fuse ability of this actual proposal.

We looked at district wide
systems we looked at.

River water cooled central plant.

You probably know that central plants
are far more efficient than floor by floor

building isolated systems
the floor by floor D.X.

system is like the bread and
butter of your commercial real estate so

it's really hard to get away
from not model but it also has

architectural impacts if you have cooling
towers on the roof of your buildings.

When we started to dig into this deeper.

We understood that
although the central plant

could have enormous savings
in terms of water and energy.

So as an example two hundred seventy four
million gallons of possible water could be

saved and not have to be used to feed the
cooling towers one hundred twenty million

gallons of waste water would be prevented
from being dumped into the combined sewer

and storm water system in New York City
when they blow down the tanks fifteen

point six kilowatt hours
of additional Mega Million

sorry fifteen point six million
kilowatt hours of additional energy.

That could be remediated by
doing a central cooled river

water system but so you're you have one
environmental energy goal on this side and

then on the other side you have
the the protectors of the minnow

that live in the Hudson River who are
concerned that the process even though.

The impact of the minimum population
would be less than what's exist.

Currently in place because
there is a permit for

District water chilled water
the World Trade Center.

Previously they were unhappy about that
and in the end because of the loads on all

of the buildings combined the change
in the SU where the river water.

Discharging like two degrees warmer water
out into the Hudson River estuary was

going to dramatically impact
that ecosystem and so

we couldn't go forward with that.

So these are kind of some of
the difficult choices and

exercise that we have to go through.

Or we also have fuel cells in
the project they're about fourteen

percent of the energy cost savings
one point two megawatts system.

Unfortunately with Sandy
these fuel cells were damaged

because they were flooded
with salt water and so

now we're going through the process
of understanding is there another

better technology that's available do
we want to put the fuel cells back in.

How do you deal with that because we
actually built the building around

the fuel cells because they're so large
and now all the walls are in place and

systems are in place so
how do we even get them out of there.

I spoke a little bit about market demand

tenants are realizing that architecture
is part of their recruitment package.

They are trying to retain the best and the
brightest talent out of the schools and

how are they doing that.

Yes they it's a prestigious perception.

Yes here's your salary compensation but

it's also about what's my work
life quality going to be like

what's the space that I'm going to
spend twelve hours a day and look like.

Is there daylight in views
what is it healthy building.

You know am I going to be
inhaling all of these V.O.C.

So this is something that's you
know forefront in the center of

these developers are clients
of understanding now.

And of slots not legible at all but
we worked with

fabricators on seven World Trade Center to
push the limits of fabrication there was

no American manufacturer that was able
to produce these inflated glazing units.

At the size that we wanted.

So we told them Well give us
the best that you got and

then we worked with them on Tower one.

To push the boundaries even forward so
we can have a floor Florida ceiling

single light without
the intermediate horizontally and.

With more gas comes of course more
solar gain and so there are car.

Questions and concerns about performance
in terms of an energy perspective

we worked with the design of the moly and

even before the curtain wall
fabricator was brought on board and

also after to understand what
the thermal properties of the milling

would be especially because we have
an integrated million track for the window

washing system that's bringing that
cold air closer into into the building.

And also variances in lowly coats and

how that affects a visual
quality of the building.

You can see here in the performance
mock up that we were trying and

exploring with three
different types of glass

you have to put yourself back to
the one nine hundred ninety S. and

the beginning of this century and try to
remember what were the last elections that

were out available at that time
there was a lot of green glass.

There was a lot of tinted glass and
bronze glass and the really

coatings and the kind of advancement of
the technology has grown by leaps and

bounds in the last couple decades but
it's really

about finding that signature project
that sets the tone for the market and

proving to the manufacturers that there's
a demand for and that they need to invest

to retool their lines and to accommodate
these kinds of preferences that you're not

one lone crazy designer out there that
says I want to color neutral glazing

that also performs really well we did
a lot of performance testing as well and

the coolest thing I've ever seen or
is this dynamic mock up in New Mexico.

We drove into this facility and

they're all these ruins of tanks and
other sorts of things out there.

They actually exploded a charge in
front of this concrete bunker below.

Going to verify that the glass in the mall
eons in the crowded mall anchors and

all of brackets would
withstand the design loads

the outside glass didn't even shatter
which you know the design intent was for

the outside glass light
to be sacrificial and

absorb some of that shock that comes
in and then the two layers behind that

are laminated together would stay in
the frame and protect the people inside.

We didn't get passive first layer so
highly robust very safe building.

In addition to leave.

Gold The building is complying with
the World Trade Center sustainable design

guidelines which is above and beyond and
there are a lot of parallels and slight

variances in the standard from lead and
some of the enhancements.

I can share with you on the requirement
to build a tent exemplar space.

So the exemplar space will be a space
where potential tenants can go and

see next generation and
fit out opportunities.

This one happened to be at
seven World Trade Center but

will be doing something like this at Tower
one as well so integrating daylight and

controls smart building systems
building dashboards and

them systems so that users can understand
how how they operate the building and

how that impacts
the performance of the building.

Acoustic and vibration controls.

There were a lot of concerns about doing
all of this construction in such a densely

populated area and on a very
aggressive time schedule as well.

So there were limitations on times and
drilling and

preventative measures as well as the fuel

that goes into these machines in
two thousand and five the E.P.A.

mandated low sulfur fuel for non road
vehicles which is about five hundred parts

per million with the goal of eventually
getting to fifteen part per million.

The ultra low.

Fuel at the time that we started
construction on this job.

These machines didn't exist.

The construction manager didn't own any of
them and they had to go out and get them.

Now this is kind of the industry standard.

I know it doesn't sound very exciting and

interesting but
I can tell you that by twenty thirty.

The E.P.A. estimates that reducing
the stock side of the particulate matter

from where we were then to this fifteen
part for million the ultra low so

full fuel annually will impact and
prevent twelve thousand premature deaths.

Nine thousand hospitalization visits and
over one million work days lost so

asthma and these kind of health
concerns are a big deal.

And if we can do our part just in
the construction of one project and

set the stage and
provide the equipment and

the standards then we can
all make a difference here.

As I mentioned Sandy was a big setback

to the project we were doing really
well in terms of our schedule goals and

then the whole basement flooded and Lower
Manhattan ran out of power for a week.

So there were all kinds of
challenges they came with.

We have a seventy to eighty foot basement
throughout the sixteen acre site.

And there was about thirty feet of
standing water in there so you can imagine

what that did to the electrical equipment
to the duct work to the finish materials.

And as I mentioned the power outages
were preventing us from pumping out all

of that water about two hundred
million gallons of it from the site

of the site has emergency generators we
have backup power we have all that but

not enough to get two hundred million
gallons of salt water out in enough time.

So we're currently working on
an emergency an early action plan for

the Port Authority.

The goal is to occur.

To protect all of the mission
critical systems so the fire systems.

Some of the power systems the fuel oil for
the emergency generators the pumps.

The first responder system so we went
through the exercise of identifying all of

these rooms on read in the plan this is
just one of the the basement plans here.

And we quickly realized that it
was going to be a futile effort

to try to waterproof each of
these rooms individually.

So the strategy shifted
towards a comprehensive

solution where we would just.

Seal the perimeter essentially.

And then put in extra belts and suspenders
and some low lying critical areas.

So we went through the whole process and

we're working with our jealousy
of you walls and installs and

temporary and other structures that you
can bring in they basically look like

submarine doors that you can bring
in just in time before an event.

But I want to move on because there.

There's so much to say about tower one and
I could stand up here for

three hours and
they would all fall asleep but

you know the history is really interesting
about the project there are tons of

politics involved the structural system
is unlike anything that's ever been done

before life safety grass we had
a bunch of innovations here

that actually informed not only the New
York City building code but also I B C.

Experimentation with new materials and

assemblies was really exciting and
you can see here.

I mean we almost have like a little lib
oratory here this is what we had in

the office for the client presentations
and the client would come in and

they would see all these full scale
prototypes in mock ups and touch and

feel and understand what these
systems that we're proposing actually

are going to look like and
how we would achieve them.

Action challenges these these
are really fun actually.

So I'm just going to mention them
really quickly in New York City.

We have all these construction
projects going on and

I'm sure you've heard some of the articles
or news stories about things flying off of

buildings during high winds we were
very concerned about this the owner and

the construction manager as well so
they developed a system called the coon.

And it's this blue mesh thing that you
see it's a steel structure that's four

stories tall completely wrapped
in this blue structure and

it follows the steel up the building so
they build a couple floors for

the concrete for the corners come back and
do the steel for

the slabs and then hike up the khud and
the hotels go with it.

So as you can imagine on a building
of this size and this height.

It takes a long time to get up to the top
of the building on a construction

hoist and so they install
the Subway restaurant at the top

of the building in the container and
the iron workers could they didn't have

to bring their lunch from home in a cooler
they could have Subway sandwiches and

a whole series of hotels so
there were workshops and

then there were you know break rooms for
that and you had quarters and subway.

So that's their claim to fame.

I am really happy and
proud to announce that the first

part of the project is open
to the public tomorrow.

The connector between
the World Financial Center across

the river right on the water and the
transportation infrastructure will open.

So now you'll be able to walk from
the subway underground through this

beautiful Italian marble corridor
directly into World Trade Center and

eventually this will be lined with retail
and all these other great things and

we'll be able to enter our building
directly from there as well.

And when you come to the observation deck.

You will come down into
the observation deck log.

Which is also off of this area here.

So this is a team and
as you can see that it's a long list and

I'm sure there are names
that are missing from there.

But again it was a really amazing project
to work on and so many amazing people too.

I think that's one of the most
interesting things about us one that's.

It's all about the mentorship and
the resources and the human capital there.

There's an expert there
in any single topic and

all you have to do is ask a question and
someone is so

excited to spend an hour talking
to you about their passion.

So one of my passions and
the other things I want to share with you.

Today's the Center for
architecture science and ecology and

this delves into my my fascination and
curiosity and commitment to research.

It's very difficult to do research
on an architectural project.

There are time constraints.

There are budget constraints and
there are owner constraints the building

construction industry is not the most
abhorrent guard in the world I would say

that a lot of owners are very conservative
and don't want to be the guinea pig.

To for you to experiment on they want
you know tried and true solutions.

And so
what we're trying to get at with cases.

How do we advance the industry in
the profession to get those systems and

technologies that we need to
meet our performance goals and

not reinvent the wheel
from scratch every time.

So this.

Research Initiative is predominantly
based on tech transfer so

taking technology that's been
demonstrated in other industries and

applying it to architecture and building
systems and by doing that you're able to

drastically short circuit the development
timeline and the research.

Just a little bit about
why we're doing this.

I'm sure you're familiar with
all these stats but this

is a chart kind of showing global energy
use in comparison to population across.

The Globe and this is what happens
in a couple years when China and

India catch up with our
consumption patterns.

So cases approach is to kind of take
the standard building model and

turn it on its head your
traditional masonry or

vernacular buildings in cold
climates are highly insulated and so

the strategy is a kind of barrier
technology where you keep the harmful.

Exterior environment outside and then you
use fossil fuels and energy on the inside.

To make the space comfortable and
you have a huge transmission

loss when you take that power from the
power plant and bring it to your building.

Strategy that's far more prevalent
now with this desire to go for

more and more glass is that you're letting
more of the energy into the building but

then you're still using
a lot of energy to fight.

The heat in the solar heat gain or
the cold climate.

So what case is proposing
is that the building and

below act as a membrane and you allow
all of that energy in those resources

into the site and into the building and
then you use it and

you capture and you store it and
you move it around the building.

So in order to do something like this
you need more than just architects and

you need more than your standard
suite of architectural consultants.

This is really.

Experimentation in building systems and
part experimentation in working

in interdisciplinary teaming
because as you can see here they're

all sorts of different levels of or
types of expertise involved

in our research projects including
you know cognitive science and.

You know Earth and Environmental Sciences
are computer sciences that you wouldn't

normally necessary associate
with an architectural project.

Across the top you see some of the
research areas that we're involved in and

then down the side again
the different schools and

the individuals that
are involved in those projects.

So we it's kind of a complicated but
interesting arrangement.

Cases colocated of state intro
on the Rensselaer campus.

They have all the big
labs in the equipment for

all the prototype development and
testing there and

then they also have a studio at fourteen
Wall Street where we're located.

Where the students the Ph D.
candidates and the director and

the socio director in residence and
this is really where we're able to

cross pollinating fertilise our
projects with the research and

bringing the two together
which is extremely exciting.

So mentored tech transfer so we use
technology from NASA space stations and

stealth bombers which seem very
sophisticated and out of reach and

very expensive to things as simple as P.V.

electric technology that you can
find in your desktop in jet printer.

There are a whole variety of things out
there that are used in other industries

and been used for a long time that

we can apply to building systems and not
have to reinvent the wheel from scratch.

So as I mentioned demands on projects and

their time don't always align and
allow for research.

So the way that we talk
all that is by staging and

finding overlaps and synergies throughout
the process so case has researched.

In near term mid-term and
far term development.

We identify projects that are suitable for

the research area that
have willing client and

that also are app the right place in
their development project to kind of

briefly plug in and engage and then we
push it further on the next project and

in some of the far term research
in the very early phases.

Sometimes the owner doesn't even know that
case is involved because we're using that

building site as a real world site to test
and proof of concept some of these ideas.

One of the powers of the collaboration
to again is the access to projects.

So with over eight hundred
projects in New York City alone.

We have a database and
a set of clients and

sites that students can visit and
access and that can inform the research.

And the development of
the different technologies so

we had to test beds that
are currently in progress.

One is the shakily for medical city in
Abu Dhabi it's an eight hundred some bed.

Medical Campus that houses four
different hospitals inside and

we're looking at an integrated
concentrating solar facade.

For the entrance one of
the main entrance atriums.

We're basically trying to build
a glass box in the desert and

how do you deal with glare issues how
do you deal with excessive solar gain.

And still have a pleasant
space to be in and

so this system is capturing
all the direct solar rays.

Storing them transferring them into
energy cooling the solar the solar cell

actively with the with a heat sink and
a loop that takes that he.

Also and uses it elsewhere in
the building as high quality heats

enough to drive an absorption chiller for
example.

And so you're generating energy or
generating heat and you're all.

You also have diffused a light
condition with a lot of glass.

So this is one of the two of the different
prototypes this prototype is actually

installed.

In the Syracuse University Center of
Excellence by two she go Morey and

then on the right is the most recent
version of the prototype which.

Actually that one's number eight on
the right we're up to number nine and

number ten.

Now so.

They just keep going.

We have to find more projects to put it
in otherwise we'll be up to prototype

number twenty.

The other project that we're doing in
the Bronx it's a nine one one call center.

Really interesting program because it's
a twenty four hour operational building

the workers are under high stress and
duress all the time.

And it's a bunker essentially
because of the security demands or

not a lot of access to daylight and views.

So we are implementing the amp

system here which is an active air
cleaning system Vita remediation

plants use the leaves to clean the air but

if you actually move air through the root
rhizome it can be two hundred times

effective the just the less
the leaves cleaning potential.

So you have to have a lot less
plants to do the same job.

And they look great too.

So this is a this is a modular
system as opposed to

some of the other systems that
are out there and developed in Canada.

You can pull out the cartridges and

easily put in a new one if the plant is
failing or if you just want to change

the color of the lobby or
maybe you want to grow some lettuce.

So that.

Currently in the works and we actually
are moving forward with the construction

manager and the owner to understand
how the push and seeing and

the vellum and the actual installation
of this prototype is going forward.

So that's very exciting as well.

Funding that's on my

funding side this is a recognition of
course if we don't get published and

we don't get the word out there it's
very difficult to find ready willing and

able collaborators to
assist in this research.

So this is a very important part of
getting the word out and then the funding

also is essential as you know to
keeping the progress moving forward.

So the last topic I'll talk about and

I'll be brief because I'd love to spend
some time answering your questions

is so
lambs high performance design initiative.

And so on has always had a history of

environmental awareness and
consciousness and social responsibility.

Not only wrote this book and gathered

some of his photos in titled American a
static in one nine hundred sixty nine and

he was really inspired by Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring which talks about.

The harm that the pesticides that we
were using is causing not only to.

Insects but
also the birds that eat them and

all the way up the food chain
to impacting us as well.

S. around has a lot of award
winning projects across the globe.

And in fact one Chase Manhattan Plaza
is up for auction right now.

So if anybody has seven hundred million
dollars you too can be the zero.

Nerva mid century modern classic.

Buildings all over the world and
I think we're successful in achieving

really amazing high performance
design accomplishments on

a series of iconic projects but
something that we

could do better is meeting a baseline
goal across all of our projects.

In two thousand and the fall of
two thousand and ten the partners

called together to kind of evaluate
our position on sustainable design.

What does it mean where do we want
to be what do we need to be doing.

And we decided that it would be
really important innocent and

necessary for us to take that energy and

that vision on those iconic projects and
permeate it through our entire practice.

Well that's a lot easier said than done.

We have a whole bunch of different project
types that we work on all over the globe.

And it's really diverse and
it's multi-disciplinary And so

how do you start to tackle that.

How do you start to make change and

implement these goals across such
a wide section of of issues.

The first thing we decided we
need to do was set some goals but

a lot of different confusing
standards out there and

when someone tells you you're
twenty cent twenty percent better

the first question you should ask
is twenty percent better than what.

There is the C. banks database which
doesn't have a lot of project.

Examples that we do tall buildings.

There's.

Code but every code in the local
municipalities different

reference different reference
standards in different years.

So twenty percent better may
not always mean the same thing.

There's also twenty percent better
in terms of energy consumption and

twenty percent better in terms.

Energy cost savings which is what
lead is so it's very confusing and

the first step that we took was try to
take a baseline that we could all agree on

and figure out what that would be and
what our goal should be so

this is tracking towards twenty thirty and
as you can see here.

There's there's a point where
the billing can only be so efficient

before you have to start generating
electricity on or or energy on site.

But all of the building.

Loads can't be addressed.

Right now on site with renewables.

Unless we first reduce
our consumption profile.

So we did an audit in two thousand and
twelve.

And we came up a little
bit short of our goal but

I think that was great progress from
not having any direction at all to

telling people overnight by the way
next week will be collecting data to

report to a twenty thirty commitment so
let us know what your energy model says.

And where you're at.

So this is kind of twenty
percent without even trying.

I would say.

And we're making a big push this year.

So hopefully.

The efforts that we're making will help us
surpass our goals for the following year.

We identified three targets so

we wanted to focus on in the very
beginning first push so energy.

Carbon and
water was a difficult one to address

as well because there's no standard for
measuring water consumption in buildings.

So for now we're defaulting to lead and
using that as the benchmark.

But as you know lead
measures FOS it's toilets

irrigation showers and that's about it.

It doesn't address process water which is
more than half of the water pipe chart.

So we're really focused on that too
in trying to understand how can we

improve our performance
on those issues as well.

Next step.

Once we wrap our head
around energy water and

carbon we really want to start
focusing on healthy materials.

And the impacts of the materials
have on our health and

also develop metrics for
tracking waste in projects as well.

There are lots of statistics out
there about construction waste.

But how we work that into our design

process as opposed to a post fact
to construction management issue

is something where we'd like to focus on
as well and develop some new strategies.

So I mentioned the eight
twenty thirty commitment.

We signed up in two thousand and
eleven and there are a whole bunch of

things that you have to do within
two months six months and one year.

So two thousand and twelve was a first
year that we reported our performance

on as many of the projects
that we could in the office.

The interesting thing about the twenty
thirty commitment is that it's part.

Reporting of performance
on projects your design

values not actual measured values but
your design values and

the other half of it is about greening
your own internal operations of firm.

So that's really great because now we have
an opportunity to push these strategies

forward and argue with the leadership know
you know we really need to walk the walk

to for designing all these great buildings
on office space in our meetings and

how we work needs to do the same as well.

So I first reporting here we managed to
collect data on ninety seven projects from

wide which is over a hundred almost
one hundred thirty million square feet

and the energy that was
saved on those projects.

Annually is enough to power fifty
five thousand single family homes.

So that's a pretty big

chunk of change in the energy market and I
can't wait to see what we're going to be.

It will accomplish in the next couple
years when some of these ideas that we're

implementing really start to gain some
traction and we have some real successes.

We developed in-house.

What were called what we call the H.P.D.
portal.

It's it's a web based tool that's
her house on our Internet site

to track our progress our projects.

You can't monitor what you measure and
you can improve upon

what you don't have metrics on to
track your goals and your progress.

So we're now listing the goals for all the
projects and some of them are the minimum

baseline of the firm wide standard some
owners or project teams have higher goals

and so those are input into
the system we track the location and

then throughout the process the strategies
that we proposed to the client.

The research and
the development along the way to vet and

justify the feasibility
of those proposals.

And also the owner's feedback.

So we're really trying to kind of pull all
the information out of the projects and

put it in a central place so
that we can come back later and

start to access and use this data.

So this gives you an idea of some of
the projects that are currently in for

the two thousand and twelve year and the
different locations of the projects and

the phases that they're in so we still
have a long ways to go with the portal.

We want to develop a very
rigorous understanding of what's

a good energy use intensity or U.I. for
our different regions and project types.

So the becomes a part of all
the design teams common vocabulary and

knowledge we want to be able to really

read bridge this tool to kind of aggregate
and report data out to the whole team so

that it comes out of the project teams and
into the the general dialogue of the.

Office.

So in terms of data mining some of
the things that we're thinking about

is you know looking at projects in
the same region or the area and

quickly identifying the strategies that
they proposed what worked what didn't.

So you don't have to start
from scratch on a new project.

Looking at energy performance and also
understanding what kind of strategy group

of those to meet certain goals and
certain climate types or regions and

how those were received and also
comparing the design data to the actual

performance data after the fact too
which will be very interesting to see.

So that's all I have I'd love
to answer some questions.

I'm sure.

All.

So on so we're very close knit group.

I mean.

I guess you're alluding to the redesign
that we went through in two thousand and

six.

Which we were completely
done with the D.D.

process when that happened so that was a.

A huge huge issue and a lot of
these people were there for a long

time before I was so they were personally
invested in that earlier design.

You know I think it was a challenge.

But again this comes back to
the resiliency of the team and

kind of passion for the work that you
do and I think that there were some

amazing things about the previous tower
that we would love to see and execute.

But there are also some really
amazing things about this new project.

So the new challenges at the base of the
building in terms of the security criteria

and this balancing the opacity

that comes hand in hand with
three foot thick concrete walls.

And the desire to create
an open active streetscape.

And have daylight and
some sort of natural elements inside

the lobby were really the impetus for
the original exterior wall design and

also the the dichroic glass studies
which I put up on the screen.

Really briefly.

So I think you know people
had opportunities to

explore our new research areas
which we're really excited.

Citing I mean I think the amount of time
that we spent developing the dichroic

glass there was a team of three people
that worked on it for probably six months.

Just in terms of you know
collaborating with manufacturers to

understand what are the the best
practices and technology.

What's feasible and what's not feasible
how we could push them a little bit

further to realize or design vision.

That all takes time but
if you're invested and

committed to it it goes by really quickly.

So yeah and
I think some people on the project

took that opportunity to switch it up and
take on a different part of the project.

So there were some people that were
working on the lobbies before that shifted

to another part of the building so that
they could get some additional exposure.

Yes.

Well.

I don't think we expect anybody to
learn to know how to manage a project

when they leave school.

I think that's one of those things
that you have to learn on the job.

I think there are a lot of things about
architecture that you have to learn

on the job.

Architectural education is so broad and
there are so many things to cover

that it's almost like I mean there are
portions where you kind of dive down and

you get into the details but
it's almost like a survey so

that you can figure out what's out there
and then identify your interests and

come back and dive down yourself later.

I mean I think I was telling a group of
students that I was talking with earlier

today that my undergraduate
education at Georgia Tech.

I was so proud because I felt like I was
one of the people who after finishing my

undergraduate degree I could be a valuable
employee to an architecture firm.

That's not the case for all undergraduate
programs and I would say too that

this program is held in such high esteem
from other academic institutions.

When I went to Columbia.

I didn't have to take any
of the required coursework.

But I had to be in residence for

three years because they want to collect
my tuition for three years and for

me to go through three years of studio.

But what that did for me is it allowed
me to not have to spend the time doing

those core curriculum courses and I could
study whatever I wanted with whomever.

So then you have access to you know
amazing history and theory resources.

And I spent a lot of time.

Actually building upon my personal
experiences when I lived in Japan and

kind of transitioning that to
the architecture world too.

So I took like four courses
in Japanese architecture and

they weren't necessarily about
the history of Japanese architecture but

more of a social aspect
which was fascinating to me.

I mean I think try to talk sets you
up to be where you need to be and

it's up to you and

you know to find the opportunities in your
next life as you know in the work world.

To continue building upon the.

Yes.

Are you talking about the building
that's constructed right now where

we have three foot thick concrete
walls of the base of the building and

those are essentially for blast protection
to protect the people inside the building.

As you go up the building
there is a concrete

core that's anywhere between
eighteen inches and three feet.

Those serve double duty one is to
protect the people in the stairs

in the core the other is sheer
from a structural perspective.

But essentially all the gravity load of
the project is held by those concrete

course at the permit or we have
a redundant completely redundant moment.

Steel moment frames.

So the columns in the perimeter beams.

Meaning that we could
lose a couple of them

in the building still
not going to fall down.

Is that we are talking about
in terms of reinforcement.

Yeah I mean it was so cool to walk around
the construction site when they were

because the the Rebbe cages for

the concrete walls there were pieces
of rebar that were no why you know this

big around and there was so much rebar
that sometimes you would wonder where's

the concrete going to go because it
was just really like so so dense but

yeah it's it was pretty
amazing to watch the concrete

is also ultra high strength I think
I'm going to get my numbers wrong but

I think it's eight hundred thousand.

P.S.-I which is significantly stronger
than your standard concrete that you

would find around.

So there are all kinds of challenges
in terms of hydration and

mixing because when it's that strong.

It's also comes out very thick so
there's a viscosity issue.

So they had to develop special tools so

vibrate the mix to get it down in
between that very dense rebar cage and

then they actually had
a little nano micro.

Ships in the mix too to
monitor the temperature so

they could make sure that everything
was cheering correctly as well

because when you have these
big massive poorish like that.

You could run into issues.

Yes.

Getting started is only
the most difficult part

when you're staring about
a blank piece of page.

Blank piece of paper and wondering you
know where do we where do we go first.

There are so many opportunities and
so many things to do I think if

the goal is net zero energy you should
start by analyzing the climate type and

looking at you know
what the resources are.

Meaning you know on the site.

What's available it's coming in the sky.

You know in terms of rain and sun.

Or from the ground in terms of
geothermal or or something like that.

And I understand the climate type two.

Are you designing for
coal are you designing for hot or

is it a temperate climate where it will
be completely naturally ventilated and

you don't really have to worry about those
sorts of things I think depending on that

then you can start to develop
a strategy of if there if it's a super

insulated passive house type
strategy which is about

completely reducing your
consumption goals or if it's

something all along the other spectrum
where you're using different strategies or

technologies to kind of not only reduce
the consumption but also generate.

Site but it's all about the site.

I mean it's it's all about the climate
region and then the micro environment of

the site too and which is a challenge
because most of the weather data that we

get comes from airports and airports are
not very close to your site they're very

different conditions I mean Hartsfield
is miles away from here and

sometimes it's raining here and
it's not there and vice versa.

And back.

There wasn't that much to communication
with the memorial team because

they're so far south.

I think the incredible challenge with
that site is the stuff that's happening

below grade because
the Port Authority has for

one so many different entities and
you know put the slide back up.

I mean within the Port Authority itself
they have their own billing department

they have their own inspections department
so like the concrete and the and

the fire inspectors.

They have their own Transportation
Department the Port Authority.

Is an agency that is primarily responsible
for all the bridges tunnels and

airports in New York City.

So it's the New York New Jersey

who are group which includes
Newark Airport as well.

So they're not traditionally

building developers and they've never
done a skyscraper before either but so

one of the challenges is kind of getting
all these groups inside the port authority

to talk to each other and also because the
below grade is like this three D. jigsaw.

Of train tracks and bus parking for

the memorial and for the deck and
the more the museum itself.

Lots of mechanical rooms parking for
people that work on the site.

Central chelators and other infrastructure
and an enormous amount of fans and

other infrastructure to
support the train tracks.

All kinds of stuff down there and

there are all different stakeholders
kind of bought in one next to the other.

So one of the real challenges is
the site is divided into the east back

in the West and they're kind of separated

by the one train that goes down
to the Staten Island South Ferry.

So towers two three and four definitely
have much more coordination issues than we

do because they're kind of imbedded with
the the transportation and the memorial.

They're closer to that we're kind
of put aside plan back here.

So where we're kind of separated by V.Z.
and Fulton Street and

almost like an island which
helps there are still P.A.

program in our building so there are
actually vent shafts for the train tracks.

That come up through our building.

Originally the Port Authority wanted to
just bring them straight up which meant

that we would have these two massive
industrial size things on our west

Plaza at the front door to the observation
deck and we said absolutely not.

That can happen.

So they actually ended up down here and
if you go to the memorial.

Please have a look along
that western edge and

you will see those massive then shaft
buildings and you will understand why we

couldn't have them at all anywhere
near the entrance door building but

those are the kind of challenges
with multi-stakeholder clients and

a complicated site like
this because they're also.

This is part of the politics in
the history that I didn't get into.

As I was hired by Larry Silverstein
a private developer.

In early two thousand and
one before September.

And has mandalas to take distressed
properties refurbish them and

then flip them.

And we were already retained to help
him with that project September

eleventh happened and he decided he
had a choice he could walk away and

he wouldn't have any lease obligations
anymore or he could stay there and

rebuild the towers which meant that he
paid an enormous amount of rent every

month for air and space for
the opportunity to rebuild.

We've got a good ways
down along the process.

I think we probably took it to the end
of D.D. with Silverstein when there was

a concern that all of the projects
wouldn't be done fast enough and

so Silverstein relinquished
his rights to tower one and

gave it back to the Port Authority which
is the landowner in exchange he would

develop towers two three four and five.

So that everything would come online
immediately but then two thousand and

eight came when the economy tanked.

And there were ten minutes to fill up
ten million square feet of office space

all the same time.

So the plan shifted again but so now
our current client is a Port Authority.

Yes.

Thank you.

Lots

of conversation the owner.

I think the first thing our legal counsel
always tells us is make sure you have

an informed client you can do whatever you
want if you have an informed client and

they agree to it.

The.

The worst thing that could
happen is that they are kind of

surprise all of a sudden that they have
this new technology in their building and

you didn't tell them that
they may not be able to find

somebody to maintain it properly and
you didn't tell them the warranty.

You know doesn't insure against you know
some unexpected thing that can happen.

I think communication is key and
not some owners and

clients are much more willing to go down
that road of experimentation with you

there are definitely bragging rights
associated with being the first to do it

and they get street cred for
you know visionary clients and developers.

And that goes a long way in terms
of their marketing material and

in terms of leasing their buildings and
and developing future projects as well.

And so I think in New York we're very
lucky to have a lot of those in lightened

clients.

But again sometimes you know it's it's not
worth the risk and so a lot of them also.

I mean things that we're exploring
are smaller test bed demonstrations.

So like that solar facade that I showed

we're not ready to put that on
the entire face of a skyscraper.

You know that's that would be too much
risk to to deal with in one time but

we can certainly put it
on the roof of a million.

All of the technologies we develop
with case are just in time solutions.

So they parallel track with the best
technology available solution.

So the alternate for
that entrance is a MECO shade type

screening element with some extra H.

back of Quitman to go with it
in terms of exhausting hot air.

And if for whatever reason the technology
is not available or can be implemented or

the owner gets cold feet at the last
minute we can switch to that other.

Backup scenario.

So I guess you have to plan for you know.

Both and you have to communicate.

Yeah there are lots of examples like
that specifically to case our IP

policy is a Yours mine ours.

So there is some IP that we co-develop and
they also have theirs and we have ours.

As so
one developed a carpet line with Milliken.

Back in the Navy was around
two thousand and five or six.

They were covered tiles that had these

designs on them where you couldn't tell it
was the same copper tile over and over and

over again and I think we did like
a set of four different signs and

they were part of a line and so that was
something that you know we shared with

Milliken Yes.

I'm not personally involved with X.
I'm not a structural engineer but

I've seen very several presentations
on it really cool stuff.

They're using built up wood
members to create enough

mass to the member where it doesn't
burn at all only char on the outside.

And then you're using renewable materials.

That have a low carbon footprint and
I think the last one that I

saw Don't quote me on this but I think it
was up to thirty floors the real challenge

with the wood skyscrapers
are the codes which is an equal

barrier to some of the water and energy
initiatives as well because the codes

don't move fast enough to keep up with
the design research and innovation.

So you may have an excellent strategy.

It works really well but the building
department will let you implement it.

So you spend time lobbying and

you know doing public outreach to try
to sway the people to convince them.

This is not something that's going
to endanger the life safety and

health safety and welfare of the public.

I believe there is an article
on this on dot com.

Yes.

Sorry I didn't hear you.

I'm not familiar with
those projects they're

using the tidal flow from
the water to generate energy.

There's actually a company in New York
that studying turbines in estuaries

right off of Roosevelt Island are some
really really cool stuff they're basically

just giant propellers that kind of move
with the water and generate electricity.

I think there's a lot of potential for
that.

I mean there are regulatory and

transportation issues that
need to be worked out as well.

But I think we can all share all the space
that we have in the water because it would

be very well

thank you and thank you.