Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage & Spring Street Salt Shed

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE AIA:

Located at the edge of Manhattan in a dense mixed-use neighborhood, the Department of Sanitation’s garage and a salt shed were signature projects of NYC’s Design Excellence program. The 425,000-square-foot garage’s double skin façade is clad in perforated metal fins, reducing solar loading while providing a strong vertical articulation of the project’s mass. The 5,000-square-foot salt shed, with faceted concrete planes, has become an iconic structure, attracting photo shoots, architectural tourists, and curious locals. The design and siting of these two projects provide a dignified example of vital civic architecture.

FROM THE 2018 AIA INSTITUTE HONOR AWARDS FOR ARCHITECTURE JURY:

The Salt storage building took what is usually an industrial construction built as economically as possible into urban art. It raises the bar significantly for civic infrastructure. Unapologetic platonic shape with beautiful skin with commitment to civic expression, environmental responsibility, and sensitivity to the urban context design solution that successfully integrates critical services into the neighborhood. The pursuit of a visual oxymoron to sanitation, and investment therein, is laudable and uplifting to an entire neighborhood and heavily used city corridor. Highly innovative.

From the AIA:
The Garage and Salt Shed celebrate the role of civic infrastructure by integrating innovative architectural design with sustainability and a sensitivity to the urban context. The building is wrapped in a custom perforated double-skin façade that reduces solar gain while allowing daylight and views in personnel areas. The 1.5 acre extensive green roof reduces heat-island effect, promotes biodiversity, and filters waste steam condensate and rainwater allowing it to be reused for truck wash. The projects are also benchmarks for NYC’s Active Design program, which promotes the health and fitness of occupants through building design.

2017 AIA COTE Top Ten Jury Comments:
The project achieves two extraordinary feats: It raises the bar for a municipal sanitation building to the status of an excellent civic structure in the heart of the city, and it also evidences extraordinary skill in changing an initial negative community response into a welcoming presence. The green roof participates as a building system by providing a habitat and food for migratory birds, capturing 100 percent of rainwater and improving views for neighboring buildings. Greywater is used as a source for flushing restroom fixtures and truck washing. Attention to its civic responsibility is shown in the cost-effective paint color palate, which creates a polychrome façade at night. The salt shed is an unexpected sculptural element, creating visual interest in an industrial context and demonstrating investment in an underserved neighborhood.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Predicted lighting power density (watts per square-foot): 0.71 watts/sq.ft.
Predicted percent reduction from National Average EUI for Building Type: 47.2%
Percentage of water consumed onsite comes from rainwater capture: 64.2%
Percentage of rainwater that can be managed onsite: 100%
Percentage (by weight) of construction waste diverted from landfill: 88.1%