Croton Water Filtration Plant New York : Architecture

Above Ground Buildings and Landscape Croton Water Filtration Plant, Bronx, New York, USA 2009- Grimshaw Client New York City Department of Environmental Protection New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Project Description Fresh water supply is one of the most pressing environmental issues facing the world today. Only 3% of the earth’s water is fresh and only a small part of this is available to man. In the U.S. alone, 3,700 billion more gallons of water per year are extracted than are returned to natural water systems, creating an annual water deficit. In rural America, aquifers provide 99% of all drinking water and the average age of water in those aquifers is 1,600 years. As the water level in these aquifers drops year after year, water is becoming one of our most precious and endangered resources. Enjoying centuries of abundant water supply, Americans are largely unaware of the potential environmental crisis facing future generations. The new Croton Water Filtration plant, currently under construction, is located in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and is the city’s first water filtration facility. The project entails a great number of sustainable practices on both a civic scale and a highly specific technical level. The three core drivers for Grimshaw’s design of the aboveground structures and landscape of the Croton project were: • Artistic and creative integration of buildings and the landscape • Create amenity for recreation and education • Demonstrate sustainable design through the best practices of storm water management and site design The plant is an integral part of the city’s infrastructure, designed to treat and deliver 290m gallons of water per day - up to 30% of the city’s water supply. Through this project, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Parks and Recreation have partnered in the interest of creating a global landmark: a complex, publicly funded civic infrastructure project, which demonstrates cutting edge environmental strategies in landscape, building design, and storm water management. The project’s fundamental premise, water, has led the design team to use it as the generating principle for aboveground security, landscape, and building design. The project’s overall concept is influenced by nature - specifically the water lily, which catches rainwater as it falls, filters it for its own use, and returns the excess into the pond below. In replicating this process as closely as possible, we have achieved a truly sustainable and lowimpact system for storm and site water management. The above grade structures at Croton use water to inform site planning and building design strategies. Ground water is collected and redistributed through a system which functions largely by gravity. Throughout the site, the use of swales and moats to direct water into collection and filtering locations creates required security boundaries and eliminates the need for unsightly fencing. The project also includes habitat enhancement on a large scale. To develop the range of habitat types which would be most effective for ecological enhancement, Great Ecology Environments and Rana Creek Living Architecture investigated the surrounding plant communities in Van Cortlandt Park and studied the storm water wetland system of the Staten Island Blue Belt. The ability of each potential habitat to aid in the treatment of storm water was then investigated in terms of its appropriateness for the site, taking into account program, security, aesthetics, and topography. Through this complex hydrological storm water system, the design team will achieve the following goals: • Significantly reduce the use of potable water for irrigation • Significantly reduce the use of potable water for non potable uses • Naturally treat ground and storm water through constructed wetlands and bio-swales • Significantly reduce all groundwater and storm water discharge into the city combined sewer through site reuse, including golf course and driving range irrigation, grey water uses, wetland recharge, and building maintenance Recreational components include a clubhouse for a 9-hole public golf course, driving range tee boxes and a civic space for use by the surrounding community. The club house and tee box are discreet structures which are fully integrated into the surrounding landscape, using locally sourced natural materials to convey a respect for the park. Croton Water Filtration Plant images © Grimshaw Croton Water Filtration Plant Bronx - Building Information Site Size: 35.6 acres Construction Budget: $95 m (above ground structures and landscape) Projected Completion: 2012 Site Structures and Areas: Clubhouse 9,873 sq ft Tee Box Structures 8,600 sq ft Driving Range 530,000 sq ft Arrivals / Receiving Building 6,614 sq ft Chemical Fill Building 4,744 sq ft Guard House 337 sq ft Architect: Grimshaw New York Project Partners: Mark Husser, Andrew Whalley Project Architect: David Burke (Associate) Project Team: Alexander Bauman-Lyons, David Cook, Todd Cossman, Jenny Dudgeon, Andy Kim, Yooju No, Elena Perez Guembe, Harry Ross, JS Wong, Luke Yoo Landscape Architect: Ken Smith Landscape Architect Ecological Design: Rana Creek Living Architecture (San Francisco), Great Ecology Environments (New York) Environmental Design: Atelier Ten (New York) Structural Engineers: Ammann & Whitney Dewhurst MacFarlane & Partners Services Engineer: Buro Happold (New York) Lighting: Arup Lighting Cost Consultant: VJ Associates Below Grade Water Treatment Plant Designers: Hazen and Sawyer, P.C. / Metcalf & Eddy of New York, Inc (Joint Venture) Croton Water Filtration Plant images / information from Grimshaw 270209