Green Space on Roof of Pier 57 in Manhattan Helps Combat Urban Heat Island Effect
Sourced from ABC News 7
A place to sit outside among the towering concrete and glass skyscrapers of New York City, away from the commotion on the street below.
But this two-and-a-half-acre rooftop green space atop Pier 57 is more than just pretty foliage and finely manicured lawns.
"It's an environmentally friendly roof," said Bill Elder EVP, Managing Director, RXR. "This is actually an adaptive reuse building. So, you talk about environmentally friendly. The structure that was already here was never taken down, it was just repurposed."
Green rooftop spaces, like at Pier 57 on Manhattan's West Side, or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, are champions of change, climate change, that is.
"We find that having this two and a half acres of green tends to keep the building cooler than if there was just a standard rooftop here," said John Ambrosini, Sr. Property Manager, Pier 57.
That's because the rooftop greenery insulates the building. And that's not all, it absorbs rainwater during storms and helps treat dirty air. But, maybe most importantly, it combats the urban heat island effect.
Urban heat islands are locations where buildings, roads, and parking lots cause it to be warmer than outlying areas. Think about New York City, a concrete jungle. It's everywhere and it absorbs and retains heat while the sun is up radiating it back into the surrounding air.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
