The Conference Agenda

World Heritage at Risk, Rochelle Roca Hachem, Officer for Culture, UNESCO.

Rochelle Roca Hachem will discuss how climate change is threatening the world’s historic landmarks and living cultures and what steps UNESCO and the international community are taking to raise awareness about adapting to those impacts in order to safeguard these precious places.

• Welcome – MAS and Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
• Morning Keynote – Emily Wadhams, Vice President for Public Policy, National Trust for Historic Preservation. Historic Preservation and Sustainability: Where do We fit in? (more)
• Climate Change in NYC: What Can We Expect (more)
• Making it Work: Case Studies in High-Performance Preservation Retrofits (more)
• LEED and Beyond (more)
• Just the Facts: Quantifying Energy Savings and Operating Costs (more)
• Learning from Other Cities: How are Old and Historic Buildings Integrated in Sustainability Plan (more)
• Concluding Keynote – David Bragdon, Director, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, PlaNYC 2.0 (more)
• Reception

Tours (click here to read more about the tours).

1. Rural Sustainability: Kykuit, Pocantico Center & Stone Barns
2. Going Green in the Flatiron District
3. Lower East Side Boiler Tour

CONFERENCE THEMES: Adapt, Improve, Measure, Manage

ADAPT
With 578 miles of waterfront, New York City is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Not only are sea levels expected to rise, but experts also forecast the city will be hit by stronger and more frequent storms. This likely combination of more extreme temperature fluctuations, higher waters and stronger storms poses a real threat to the city’s neighborhoods and buildings.

Climate Change in NYC: What Can We Expect, How Can Preservationists Plan for It?
This panel discussion will explore how climate change impacts will affect New York City and its cultural, historic and architectural resources. Are there policies that will promote the resiliency of those resources? Do we need to develop management and disaster plans specifically for historic and cultural resources?

IMPROVE
Buildings play an important role in the fight against climate change. Nearly 77% of New York City’s green house gas emissions are related to the construction and operation of buildings. Improving the efficiency of all of New York City’s buildings is a primary goal in New York’s sustainability plan, PlaNYC. Given that nearly 55% of New York City’s buildings were built before 1940, improving the efficiency of old buildings is a major part of the solution. Historically sensitive energy retrofits can be complex, but there are numerous examples of historic buildings that are being improved without compromising their character.

Making it Work: Case Studies in High-Performance Preservation Retrofits
This panel discussion will bring together architects, engineers and construction experts to show the energy opportunity in New York’s old buildings and how the efficiency of older and historic buildings can be improved without compromising their historic character.

• Stephen Apking, Skidmore Owings and Merrill
• Jean Carroon, Goody Clancy
• Nathan Taft, Jonathan Rose Companies
• Jeremy Shannon, Prospect Architecure
• Judith Saltzman, Li/Saltzman Architects (moderator)

LEED and Beyond
While most people are familiar with LEED, there are an array of standards and financial incentives that can help guide and encourage energy retrofits of existing buildings, including the City’s Greener Greater Buildings Program, incentive programs by NYSERDA and the federal government’s HomeStar program. This panel discussion will explore how well these programs work with historic buildings and the goals and outcomes of each.

• Laurie Kerr, Senior Policy Advisor on Buildings and Energy, NYC Mayor’s Office of Long Term-Planning and Sustainability
• Richard Leigh, Director of Advocacy & Research, Urban Green Council
• Stephen Tilly, Stephen Tilly Architect (moderator)

MEASURE
The environmental benefits of retaining and improving historic and older buildings should be an integral part of making New York City more sustainable, yet this crucial tenet of preservation is underrepresented in most of the City’s plans and policies. In order to make the case that improving and retaining old buildings is good for the environment, consistent data is needed.

Just the Facts: Quantifying Energy Savings and Operating Costs

The purpose of the session is to provide advocates and city policy-makers with the latest information on data associated with retaining and improving the efficiency of older buildings and how such work can result in reduced operating costs and job creation. What data do we have to show that improving and retaining old buildings is good for the environment?  What about the repair and reuse of building materials, like windows? Is there an opportunity to create a “preservation economy,” in which the sensitive repair, maintenance and improvement of old buildings can become a job generator?

• Patrice Frey, Director of Sustainability Research, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Andy Padian, Vice President of Energy, Community Preservation Corporation

MANAGE
Elected officials, academic institutions, non-profit groups and policy-makers have created a number of important plans, policies and financial incentives directed at reducing the city’s Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Most notably, PlaNYC — a comprehensive sustainability framework for the City’s growth — has brought environmental issues to the forefront of urban thinking. Infusing these plans with thoughtful preservation-oriented policies can help further a holistic sustainability agenda.

Learning from Other Cities: How are Old and Historic Buildings Integrated in Sustainability Plans?
A number of cities have developed sustainability plans that incorporate preservation and focus on existing buildings. This lecture will share the best policy practices in other cities and what New York City can learn from them.

• Adrian Fine, Director of Center for State and Local Policy at National Trust for Historic Preservation.
• Randall Mason, Chair, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania.

PlaNYC 2.0
PlaNYC is New York City’s comprehensive long-term sustainability plan, which includes initiatives and goals aimed at improving the infrastructure, environment and quality of life in the city. Local law requires that PlaNYC be updated every four years, with the first update due on Earth Day 2011. This discussion will explore likely revisions to the plan and new areas that may be added.

• David Bragdon, Director, City of New York, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability

Conference Tours on Sunday, October 17, 2010

Rural Sustainability: Kykuit, Pocantico Center & Stone Barns: Tour key sites within the 3,400 acre John D. Rockefeller estate with Margaret Oldfather, who earned a M.S. in historic preservation from Columbia University. Margaret now works for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has stewardship of the estate. Visit includes the Marcel Breuer house, a 1948 exhibition building at MoMA, which was saved from demolition and relocated to Pocantico Hills and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. We will travel by small motor couch, leaving from the Steinway Building, 111 W. 57th St., where the MAS offices are located. Fee: $60 for conference participants (includes a light lunch). Reservation & pre-payment required. Sunday, October 17, 8:15 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Going Green in the Flatiron District: This tour considers retrofitting for sustainability at two scales: that of an office and of an entire building. At 200 Fifth Ave. (LEED Gold) bronze curtain walls and bronze-clad sashes have all been replaced, while at the architectural offices of Cook+Fox (LEED-CI Platinum), the changes include a daylight-based lighting plan, low VOC materials, denim insulation, and waterless urinals, which have helped reduce potable water use by 40%. A 36,00 square foot green roof is visible from within the workspace, serving as both appealing symbol and a means to reduce rainwater run-off. Fee: $20 for conference participants. Reservation & pre-payment required. Sunday, October 17, 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Lower East Side Boiler Tour: When Henry Gifford was a young landlord he learned that the boiler was the largest variable in building expenses. He also learned that overheated apartments with wide-open windows and clanking radiators are signs of boiler ignorance and waste. Come along on an unexpectedly fascinating tour, including to the apartment buildings that Con Edison bills indicate are the most efficient in New York State. (The New Yorker Magazine profiled Henry Gifford on his first boiler tour, which attracted participants from Ohio and Minnesota.) Fee: $20 for conference participants. Reservation & pre-payment required. Sunday, October 17, 1:00-4:00 p.m.