On Monday night the city was hit with severe thunderstorms that dropped ¾ of an inch of hail in parts of Brooklyn and flooded streets. This storm came on the heels of a tornado that struck Brooklyn and Queens a few weeks ago and caused millions of dollars to buildings in those boroughs. While we may not be able to tie those individual storms directly to the impacts of climate change, the city can expect to see an increased frequency of unusual and severe weather events.

At the Conference on Preservation and Climate Change in New York City, Dr. Radley Horton, Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University, will explain the variety of surprising ways in which climate change will impact New York City. With 564 miles of shoreline, the city is especially vulnerable to those impacts.

New York City’s increasingly severe weather will put stress on the city’s buildings and natural environments, like parks. Understanding climate change’s impacts is the first step to developing mitigation plans to safeguard those precious places.

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Photo by Robert Catalano

Earlier this year, MAS hosted eight roundtable discussions with an interdisciplinary group of experts. The goal of the roundtables was to have discussions on the following topics; Green Building and Historic Preservation Standards, Demolition and Waste Stream, Green Jobs, Green Preservation Policy, Sustainable Growth, Financial Incentives, Greening Historic Buildings and Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change. MAS will write and publicize a research agenda and white paper based on the ideas generated in the discussions and the Conference on Preservation and Climate Change in New York City. The report will be released in winter 2010.

MAS has been fortunate to have the guidance of the following experts:

At the Conference on Preservation and Climate Change in NYC, we will explore how to improve the efficiency of historic and landmark buildings. In the panel discussion “Case Studies in High-Performance Preservation Retrofits,” moderated by Judith Saltzman of Li/Saltzman Architects, four speakers will present case studies highlighting the best practices in preservation and energy efficiency.

Stephen Apking, Interior Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will discuss the renovation of Chicago’s modernist masterpiece, the Inland Steel Building. Designed by SOM in the 1950′s, the Inland Steel tower is an icon on Chicago’s skyline and a National Historic Landmark. SOM’s project aims to make the office building environmentally and economically sustainable, all while protecting the character of the historic landmark.

Before the EPA moved into Boston’s McCormack Building, one of the finest art deco office buildings in New England, the building underwent a major historic renovation in which all mechanical and electrical components of the original building were removed, but an impressive 99 percent of the original structure was reused. Jean Carroon, a Principal at Goody Clancy, will describe the decision-making process of that renovation, the green features of the retrofit and share analysis of operational data that has been collected since the renovation.

Jeremy R. M. Shannon, the Principal Architect of Prospect Architecture, will discuss the renovation and retrofit of a rowhouse in Brooklyn’s Park Slope Historic District. The work on the landmarked building was done according to Passive House standards, an approach to design and construction that dramatically reduces the energy used to operate a building.

Ground-zero of the green movement in Seattle is the Vance Building, which was awarded the LEED for Existing Buildings (EB) Gold certification. Nathan Taft, Director of Acquisitions at the Jonathan Rose Companies, will discuss the renovation of that landmark building and explain why the renovation and improvement of Class B Office buildings is important nationally. He will also discuss their green affordable housing preservation project in Harlem, on 135^th Street. That renovation and retrofit of the ten historic buildings will preserve 198 units of affordable housing and create housing that is more energy efficient, cheaper to operate and healthier for residents.

Architects and planners can earn continuing education credits at the conference. Architects can earn 6.0 sustainable design credits, thereby fulfilling a year’s requirements from the AIA. Attendant’s will also earn 6.0 Learning Unit credits and 6.0 Health, Safety and Welfare credits. APA New York Metro Chapter is currently seeking Certification Maintenance credits for this event.

For more information on other conference sessions at the click here. To register, click here.

Rural Sustainability: Kykuit, Pocantico Center & Stone Barns
The tag line for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) logo is “Philanthropy in an Interdependent World,” an apt one for an organization whose projects reflect an environmentalist ethic. RBF is also responsible for the stewardship of the 3,400 acre John D. Rockefeller estate on the Hudson River, a model of sustainability. Preservationist Margaret Oldfather will lead the group on a tour that includes: the grand house called Kykuit (from a Dutch word for “overlook”), the Beaux Arts gardens punctuated with sculpture by Calder, Henry Moore, Noguchi and other modernist masters, the Pocantico Conference Center and the 1948 Marcel Breuer House, now undergoing restoration and energy updating. The group will also visit the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, with its efficient buildings, farm animals, hillside gardens and extensive greenhouses. Transportation is by chartered motor coach. A light lunch is included in the $60 ticket.  Reservations and pre-payment required, click here to register. Sunday, October 17, 8:15 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Architectural historian Matt Postal will provide historical and architectural context as he leads the group on visits to two LEED certified rehabilitations, one a landmarked building and the other an office with an unexpected view. At the sites, architects will lead the tours and discuss how they made these spaces more efficient and pleasant work environments.  At 200 Fifth Ave. (The International Toy Building), principals from STUDIOS Architecture will lead a tour of the interior of the landmark building, in which bronze curtain walls and bronze-clad sashes have been replaced and an interior courtyard once occupied by mechanical equipment is now filled with light and bamboo. At the Cook +Fox offices, the architects will describe how they developed a daylight-based lighting plan and made choices such as denim insulation and waterless urinals, as well as the most striking symbol of their move towards sustainability — the green roof. It reduces water runoff while providing a close-up view of ever-changing nature through the office windows. Fee: $20. Reservations and pre-payment required, click here to register . Sunday, October 17, 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Henry Gifford says, “I demand to know how things work.” That attitude and his willingness to put in the effort and time to understand how things do work has enabled him to learn the best ways to save energy—and money. When Gifford was a young landlord he learned that the cost to run 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 for an unexpectedly fascinating look at boilers, the heart of many a New York building. The New Yorker Magazine profiled Henry Gifford on his first boiler tour, which attracted participants from Ohio and Minnesota. Fee: $20. Reservations and pre-payment required, click here to register . Sunday, October 17, 1:00-4:00 p.m.

World Heritage At Risk

Rochelle Roca Hachem, UNESCO’s Programme Specialist for Culture

The impacts of climate change threaten the world’s natural and built environments, especially the world’s fragile heritage sites. Peru’s Chan Chan, one of the largest and most important pre-hispanic earthen architecture cities in the Americas, is threatened by erosion caused by increasing numbers of El Niño events; Desertification threatens Mali’s Timbuktu, once an intellectual and spiritual capital of Africa; and the medieval center of Prague is threatened by repeated flooding caused by increased levels of rainfall in Northern Europe that many scientists ascribe to climate change.

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.

This event is free for all conference attendees and is open to MAS members ($10) and the general public ($15). Friday, October 15 at SVA Theater, 333 West 23 Street. (5:30 – Cocktails, 6:15 – Program, 7:15 – Festive Reception). Click here to register for this program.

Historic Preservation and Sustainability: Where Do We Fit In?

Emily Wadhams, Vice President for Public Policy, National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Climate change constitutes one of the major challenges of the 21st century and mitigation and sustainability policies are being drafted at the federal, state and local level in order to reduce the potential effects of global warming. Emily Wadhams will discuss the challenges and opportunities for the preservation community in the United States in light of these plans, and explore what preservation has to offer in meeting sustainability goals. She will also address the ways in which preservationists need to embrace change, especially with regard to improving energy efficiency in older and historic buildings and helping to shape smart growth policies.

PlaNYC 2.0

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

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. David Bragdon will deliver a keynote address about ways in which the plan will be updated this year and how New Yorkers, and preservationists, can weigh in on any changes. Bragdon just recently joined Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability after serving as the President of the Portland, Oregon Metro Council.

To hear Emily Wadhams, David Bragdon and others speak about preservation, sustainability and climate change, please register for the Conference on Preservation and Climate Change in New York City. To register, click here. To see the list of sessions and speakers, click here.

Click here to download the Conference Program.