Introduction
The Bank of America tower, also called One Bryant Park, is one of the most efficient and ecological buildings designed by architects Cook and Frank. This magnificent building was opened in 2009 and is one of the buildings that have embraced the green economy movement. The building cost about one billion dollars to be constructed as a 55-story tower that rises beyond the street level (Kodmany, 2018 p. 102). The actual height of the building is 77.7 meters and has a floor area of about 195096 square meters (Kodmany, 2018 p. 102). The building hosts a 24000 square feet green roof that allows its users to enjoy social activities, interactions, and wellness services (Kodmany, 2018 p. 102). The building is currently used as a retail and off9ce building where it has front office for customers that deposit and withdraw cash on a daily basis and a back office that oversee the retail and front-office activities. Additionally, a massive rainwater collecting system is. The following paper analyzes the current constraints present on the bank based on the building usage, the existing construction, the site, and the location. It also proposes some recommendations that the building might take to enhance its energy performance sustainability and how it can achieve high points with LEED based on its HVAC strategy.
Constraints Surrounding the Building
The Building’s Use
The bank of America is used as a mixed building with both office and retail tenants. The mixed-use formula entails a building combining two or more uses into one structure, including residential, parking, or retail. The specific type of use of the Bank of America is the vertical mix which involves setting offices at the upper level and retail at the street or down level. Despite mixed-use encouraging high-quality design through the provision of greater flexibility and control, this type of application poses a challenge in getting and keeping the space of the building leased. The building has numerous empty areas that have continuously increased installation losses. The reason behind surplus space is the fear that the retail segment present in the building possesses when profits are concerned. These retail stores realize limited gains when operating in a mixed setting compared to working as single separate entities. Along with little profits, the office segments face the challenge of noise emanating from the retail branch. The retail department mainly interacts directly with customers, leading to a great degree of noise. Most offices in the building regard this as a distractor, making them make errors when critical tasks such as money counting are involved (Moro-Visconti et al., 2020 p. 10316). Generally, mixed-use in Bank of America has resulted in a surplus of spaces due to fear of reduced profitability among the retail stores and the fear of noise from the office segments.
Existing Construction
The Bank of America is among the tallest buildings globally, meaning it faces the challenge of oscillations as experienced with such structures. This structure is 77.7 meters long and has been classified as the 17th tallest building globally (Hang & Huy, 2021 p. 485). Additionally, the building has been constructed as a high-rise using light materials such as float glass which offers high flexibility. However, the construction of very tall buildings often increases the challenge of damping and softness, consequently raising the building’s sensitivity to dynamic forces such as sea waves, wind, or even earthquakes. In addition to increased damping, high-rise structures have high energy absorption, making them susceptible to high-amplitude vibrations even when low wind speeds. An example of vibration generated by such systems includes vortex-induced vibrations. The interaction between the fluid flow and a tall structure with vortices gives rise to nonlinear and multi-degree-of-freedom phenomena. Considering that the Bank of America is a bluff body, the building has a separate flow over a given part of its surface, leading to vortices forming behind its body. The formed vortices result in oscillatory forces on the structure of the building, which comprise drag and lift points. The main impact of such oscillatory forces is the increased risk of windowpane crashes or even making the tenants nauseating feeling (Hang & Huy, 2021 p. 485). Unequivocally, the Bank of America is a bluff body that leads to the formation of vortices that result in oscillations that can give tenants a nauseating feeling or even cause the windowpanes to crash.
The bank of America has the poorest environmental conservation techniques despite being awarded certifications on sustainability. Based on the New York data report, the Bank of America was found to produce more greenhouses and utilize more energy than any other building in Manhattan, including an almost similar Goldman Sachs building. The bank uses more than twice the energy used by an 80-year-old building per square foot based on this data. Previously, the bank reported using eco-friendly systems such as waterless urinals, rainwater harvesting, and even daylight dimming controls. The building also constructed a green roof on the top of the tower to allow easy socialization of its tenants while enjoying the best scenery. Along with an improved green economy, the Bank of America claimed to have energy-conserving systems such as the onsite natural gas power plant that lets the building use 70% of annual electrical power and 30% during peak demand. Such energy allows the building to eliminate the chances of electrical transmission losses (Buallay et al., 2022 p. 115). The building’s progress in energy conservation made it gain a LEED rating of about 50 points. However, when the New York environmentalists investigated the building, it was identified that the building produces tons of carbon gases from its onsite energy co-generator, contributing to the city’s environmental pollution. Generally, the bank’s adoption of onsite energy cogeneration leads to increased carbon emission by the bank.
Site and Location
The way a building has been designed and located on a site can affect people’s perception of its accent to the natural landscape or layout. The site lines of the Bank of America impede a clear view from a far. The bank has been constructed at the middle of the Manhattan town square where it is at the center of other tall structures such as Theater District and School District. The location of the bank at this site prevents customers to see the whole of the building clearly as the lower part including the main entrances cannot be seen when people are on interior roads, natural areas or even on highways. Additionally, the Bank of America is customer-oriented, meaning it aims to attract as many customers as possible. However, with the lower part of the building being obscured by the neighboring structures, the ban ends up with less customers contrary to what the owner had envisioned (Jebe, 2019 p. 650). Generally, the bank of America lacks good sightlines for customers to view from afar as it has been constructed at the center of other tall buildings such as the District Theaters.
Proposals and Rationale
Applying Modern Methods in Construction
The construction of a similar architecture such as that of the Bank of America needs to employ modern construction methods (MMC) to hasten the construction process. The Bank of America took approximately six years for its construction to complete, from 2004 to 2009. Based on modern times, six years is a long period considering most of the structures are based on commercial use; thus, the owner might get losses with increased delays in the project. MMC concentrates on offsite techniques, factory assembly, and production, giving an alternative to traditional building methods such as those applied in the construction of the Bank of America. MMC can be used in this case to create whole buildings by utilizing the factory modules through innovative working processes. For instance, flat slabs or even precast panels can be constructed separately in a factory setting from where they can be outsourced and taken to the building for assembly (Al-Kodmany, 2018). This MMC approach will benefit the building owner by speeding up the construction process and reducing labor costs, improving quality, and eliminating chances of material wastage.
Improving Energy Performance Using Innovative Design
Buildings record the highest energy consumers in every country’s energy data, making environmental sustainability and climate change critical factors in construction. One of the ways that energy efficiency can be integrated into a commercial building such as that of Bank of America includes integrating design (DI) in the energy management audit. Traditionally, the energy management audit relied on the energy conservation checklists that provided the energy professionals with opportunities to impose energy-saving methods. However, DI offers commercial buildings user-centered and disruptive innovation energy-saving help (Esrafilian-Najafabadi & Haghighat, 2021 p. 107810). The integration of DI in the energy management audit occurs in four stages, including discover, define, develop and deliver. These processes are shown below.
DI’s successful incorporation in the energy management audit helps energy professionals develop intelligent energy products that foster energy efficiency. In the case of the Bank of America, it was observed that most employees forget plugging off their loads and even switching off lights when they are done with their shifts. Additionally, the building’s management personnel lacked an efficient system to track specific information such as energy usage by the employees (Nikdel et al., 2018 p. 20). The following three processes are viable, using DI to develop the best energy-saving practices.
Adopting PostBits for Reminder
PostBits is an example of a display system that integrates data from cloud storage with a high degree of contextuality in the physical space. The system places the information at specific location in the employee’s and common office spaces, providing energy users with effective ways of managing information based on energy cost and usage and even reminds them to unplug their devices before leaving their work stations (Chen et al., 2019 p. 320). This system builds on the current cloud system, which stores energy use data for every employee.
Real-time Monitoring and Control Mobile Application
The proposed building needs to adopt a mobile application that lets the manager control and remotely manage the socket plugs and lights. Additionally, the manager has less monitoring of many plug loads and switches in the building. The mobile application can ease the plug monitoring task among managers as it provides data for all loaded plugs and all controls by accessing the app via a phone (Nikdel et al., 2018 p. 20). This application can also provide an energy analysis report based on energy saving and use the opportunity when occupancy is concerned. Additionally, it can evaluate the energy consumption of various loads, helping the manager identify some of the high-energy operating loads quickly.
Giving Incentives to Shared Space Users
The proposed building needs to induce the office users and even those firms that will adopt an open layout for its employees. By sharing space, employees indicate a high aggregate comfort level while at the same time energy consumption is reduced. A shared space also means sharing office equipment such as organizational printers and photocopiers, which would consume a large amount of energy if employees used them in their private offices (Nikdel et al., 2018 p. 20). Generally, incentives would encourage workers to perform their duties in an open layout, consequently saving energy uses.
Innovative Solutions for Sustainability
Air System
The proposed building can incorporate the smog-free vacuum cleaner, which changes air pollution into jewelry. The first smog-free tower was built by Daan Roosegaarde and measured about 7 meters high. The smog tower cleans the air using the ionization technique, which ensures air is cleaned before entering or leaving a building. This tower can be applied in tall buildings, especially in those rooms involved in energy production such as burning natural gas, allowing the people using the building to breathe and experience clean air. The vacuum cleaner can clean 30000 cubic meters of air at a given hour, and its energy consumption resembles that of a water boiler (Buallay et al., 2022 p. 115). Generally, this saves on energy consumption and increases the organization’s efficiency.
Additionally, the building can adopt a similar giant air filtration plant to that of the Bank of America. This system recirculates air in a spiral manner, allowing it to be cleaned off impurities. Also, the system supplies oxygen-rich air, whereas the filtration plant has oxygen sensors that help it inject fresh air into the building. Additionally, the air filter can catch up to 95% particulate matter, including allergens that can cause illnesses to the inhabitants of the building (Zamora-Polo & Sánchez-Martín, 2019 p. 4224). While the entering air is purified, the ejected air is cleaner than the street air, making the filter a suitable investment for sustainability.
Water Conservation
The proposed construction can also achieve sustainability by reducing water consumption through waterless urinals and improving water harvesting. One of the ways the Ban of America uses to minimize water utilization is constructing the Falcon Waterfree flashless urinals in the men’s room. These urinals prevent bacterial build-up and allow urine to be easily beading in the glycerin-based liquid that then drains it into the sewer system. The technology enables the Bank of America to save up to three million gallons of water. Another water-saving technology is green roof outlook that has helped the Ban of America tap water from floods, using tower funnels that minimize the pumping of water up and down (Hang & Huy, 2021 p. 485). Along with green roof design, the proposed building can construct a rainwater reservoir such as that of the Bank of America that lets the building collect rainwater and then feed it to the irrigate plants, A/C systems, or the toilets. These systems allow water conservation to be maintained and ultimately enhance sustainability.
Energy Systems
The proposed construction should adopt a cooling system capable of storing ice during off-peak hours and use the ice to cool the interiors during peak days. One of the challenges observed in constructing most green buildings was building an effective cooling system. The Bank of America counters this challenge by producing its ice and stores during the off-peak hours and utilizing it during peak days to help cool the building. The technique is similar to an ice battery and effectively assists a facility in producing its power. This technology has enabled the Bank of America to produce about 5.1MW power and has helped the organization the challenge of power wastage during electrical transmissions (Hang & Huy, 2021 p. 485). Generally, generating one’s energy cuts down electric bills arising from the municipal electric supply.
Insulating and Lighting
The proposed building should adopt a floor-to-ceiling insulation glass in its construction. As observed from the Bank of America, the floor-to-ceiling insulation allows maximum natural light to enter the building while at the same time preventing heat from escaping. This insulation technique also acts as an automatic daylight dimming system and prevents any dark corners from being present in the building. The windows applied in building the Bank of America are about 9.5 feet tall and consist of low iron and fabricated, making them more transparent than the typical construction glass (Kodmany, 2018 p. 102). These delicate glasses allow employees to enjoy exterior daylight that floods deeply into their offices, helping the building cut down its expenses on electric lighting.
HVAC Strategies
Chiller Monitoring
Technology has allowed the development of the new generation monitoring equipment that assists managers in monitoring the organization’s chiller performance by collecting required data and calculating the chiller’s efficiency. The proposed construction can adopt an efficiency-monitoring program. Assuming this type of system can offset errors that ultimately affect the level of precision in calculating the chiller’s efficiency. For instance, without this type of system, an error of about one degree of water-temperature measurement can result in a 1 to 2% error in chiller efficiency calculation (Kodmany, 2018 p. 102). Generally, this new system will allow managers to gauge chiller efficiencies effectively, eliminating chances of minor errors.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The Bank of America is one of the most efficient and ecological systems designed in Manhattan by architects Crook and Fran. Despite the building being the most efficient ecologically, it experiences constraints in its building use, existing construction, and site and location. On the building use, the bank applied a mixed-use design, which challenges the bank owner with the problem of surplus space. On its existing construction, the bank experiences the difficulty of vortices and wind oscillations that cause employees to nauseate. Thirdly, its site and location constraints encompass a lack of clear view due to proximity to other tall buildings denying customers the chance to see it. Nevertheless, the Bank of America has the best measures for sustainability which any future construction needs to adopt. The proposed building should:
- Adopt innovative design for energy performance like reminders such as PostBits and mobile energy monitoring apps
- Construct airs systems such as smog-free vacuum cleaners and air filters to clean the entering and exiting air
- Adopt water conservation practices like waterless urinals, green roof buildings, and water harvesting funnels
- Adopt the ice battery that enables the building to produce its energy during peak hours and to avoid substantial external electricity bills
- Adopt the floor-to-ceiling insulation that allows natural light to enter, reducing the cost of the electric light
- Integrate the chiller efficiency monitoring program that prevents errors when determining how good the chiller system works
Reference List
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