Sustainable Skyscrapers and the Well-Being of the City

Abstract

In the summer of 2003, we had the remarkable blessing of being asked to design the most sustainable skyscraper in America. Even more compelling, the request came from the Durst Organization, a multigeneration family business that had previously developed the Condé Nast building at 4 Times Square – America’s first green skyscraper. “Leave this place better than you found it,” the philosophy of Jody Durst, has guided the Durst Organization through decades of sustainable building practices in New York City. Our task was to learn all we could from the first generation of green skyscrapers while pushing forward the standard in workplace performance for Bank of America, the primary tenant and joint venture partner in the building. It soon became clear that the design of a skyscraper in New York City was to speak powerfully about our generation’s goals and aspirations. We needed more than a green skyscraper; we needed to set a new standard for urban sustainability.