At
the invitation of the Department of Design
and Construction (DDC), one of New York
City’s largest design and construction
agencies, the Design Trust sponsored a
year-long study to create the High
Performance Building Guidelines, a set of design guidelines
for the city’s adoption of environmentally
responsible and energy efficient building
techniques.
Because of the magnitude of the city’s
capital program, the environmental consequences
of its building practices are significant.
The guidelines created through this project
will eventually effect construction projects
undertaken for all of the DDC’s client agencies (libraries,
cultural facilities, police, fire, courts,
corrections, health, human services,
transportation, and others). In electing
to transform its own design and building
practices, the city has established itself
as a leader in environmentally sound
building among large municipalities.
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The
study involved a full range of interrelated
issues, from budgeting and site selection
to design development and facility maintenance.
Design Trust fellows Stephen Campbell
and William Reed led the DDC staff through
industry workshops and seminars with
guest experts, and oversaw and edited
the staff-written guidelines document,
which set forth environmental guidelines
as applicable to New York’s particular
building processes. The guidelines were
published by the DDC in April of 1999
with the enthusiastic endorsement from
both the Mayor and the Commissioner of
the DDC.
The Design Trust, its fellows,
and DDC agreed to continue
their partnership in order to guide the
DDC through the critical first steps of
implementation. This work was the
focus of a second Design Trust project, Implementing
the High Performance Building Guidelines.
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