Since the announcement of the Ennead + Dattner design team in March, Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay has been featured in the press and was the subject of an in-office educational event. SPARC, a project for the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), will be a first-of-its-kind job and education center in the heart of New York City that in total will include up to two million square feet for educational programs, workforce development, and job opportunities in the life sciences, public health, and healthcare sectors.
Architectural Record included SPARC in an article on circular construction, the practice of reusing, adapting, and rebuilding existing buildings and building materials to use them as long as possible and avoid materials ending up as waste. The article discusses the NYCEDC’s dedication to the concept.
The guidelines are ambitious and aim for a 50 percent reduction in embodied carbon, largely through circular practices, such as reducing construction, and deconstruction material for disposal, by 75 percent; reusing or recycling 95 percent of concrete and soil generated by either construction or deconstruction for highest-use value; and for 25 percent of all virgin materials used to be low-carbon, such as mass timber. The goal, according to NYCEDC’s chief strategy officer Cecilia Kushner, is not only to support New York’s green transition, but to harness the economic heft of the NYCEDC to engender a larger market of circular construction for private actors across the city.
Read the article here.
SPARC was also recently covered in an article on Archinect sharing some preliminary images, and a quote from Ennead Partner Thomas J. Wong.
Ennead Partner Thomas J. Wong (the project’s Design Lead) shared: “We bring a commitment to civic space, along with deep experience creating leading healthcare and education facilities to our work for SPARC Kips Bay, where, together with Dattner, we will develop an innovative design that is commensurate with the quality and ambition of the education and research facilities that will have a new home there. The environments we create, both inside and out, will be crafted to bring people together and will be shaped by a shared commitment to the future of caregiving.”
Read the article here.
This week, Ennead had the opportunity to host architecture students from the Art and Design High School who presented their senior capstone designs for SPARC Kips Bay. We were joined by Councilman Keith Powers, Community Board 6 chairwoman Sandy McKee, and representatives from NYCEDC. See photos from the event below.
