Course Syllabus

A6708                                                                                      Sustainable Retrofits

408 Avery                                                                               Wednesday 11 AM -1:00 PM

Michael Adlerstein, FAIA                                                                                                            Fall 2016

 

Description

This course will explore the response of the building industry to climate change, which presently advocates sustainable construction.  We will discuss whether a stronger response is more appropriate - a reconsideration of the financial rewards of new construction in favour of the public benefits of preservation and sustainable retrofits.  Students will develop public policy proposals to move this initiative forward. 

Historic preservation and sustainable design are considerations generated by our ethical obligations to the future.  The public has generally accepted the wisdom of historic preservation.  Likewise, the American public is finally on the road towards accepting the wisdom of sustainable design, even within the preservation field. It is evolving into a required skill set.   The acceptance of historic preservation required decades of education, and its success was the result of significant financial incentives offered by the public sector for the public good – primarily tax breaks.   

The acceptance of sustainable design has also made significant, but very slow, progress in recent years.  However, damaging events caused by climate change are moving the politics of sustainable design at an increasing speed.   After over 20 years of inconclusive UN sponsored climate change conferences seeking a coordinated strategy to slow climate change (Rio in the 1990s, Kyoto in the 2000’s and Copenhagen in 2009) in recent years the world has witnessed an increased volume of very damaging weather events. These forces have created a shared sense of urgency. The tens of thousands of refugees that are moving away from the deserts of the Middle East brought the issue to everyone’s front door.  The refugees helped create cooperation at the UN climate conference in Paris in December 2015. Finally, consensus was reached on a climate change agreement. 

That agreement demands a strong response from all countries and industry groups, however, the building industry, as we know, is responsible for a large share, some say the majority share, of the ongoing carbon production. We have convinced ourselves that our best contribution to save the planet is our commitment to greener buildings.  This may be partially accurate, but perhaps not.

 

Objective

The objective of this course is to explore whether building greener buildings is the best we can do to assure our future, or is building greener helpful, but building less might be necessary, much less.  This course will explore the concepts of preserve/retrofit vs new green construction on a conceptual basis, and use as a case study the recent renovation/retrofit of the United Nations compound. 

 

Assignments

Each class will have 50 – 100 pages each week of required reading.  An Abstract and a Final Policy Strategy (about 3,000 words) will be required.

 

 

Grades

Class Participation		20%
Assignments	Abstract	30%
	Final Strategy	50%

Schedule

 

September 7                       Public Architecture and Overview of the UN Renovation

Public architecture –managing the execution of public projects for the public good; Overview of the course

Required reading:  United Nations Secretariat: Renovation of a Modern Icon, by Michael Adlerstein (unpublished paper, 2015).

http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2483-united-nations-secretariat-renovation-of-a-modernist-icon.pdf (Links to an external site.)

 

September 14                    Early Years of UN Planning

1948 – 1952 A Workshop for Peace; 1970 – 1998 the decline of facility maintenance, the cold war; Does the UN need this building? Does the world need the UN? Does NY want the UN?

Required Reading:  A Workshop for Peace: Designing the United Nations Headquarters, by George Dudley.  The MIT Press, 1994. ISBN-10: 0262041375 pages 1 - 57:

George Dudley -- A Workshop for Peace%2c Deisgning the UNHQ -- Pages 1 to 57.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Workshop-Peace-Designing-Nations-Headquarters/dp/0262041375 (Links to an external site.) 

 

September 21                     Renewal 1999 – 2014

Retrofit/preserve or demolish and build anew.

Early studies; dirty tours; security risks;  Mayor Guliani;   costs of swing space,  NYC  vs Geneva vs other places;  organizing for a multiyear project  

Required Reading:  Report of the Secretary-General proposing the Capital Master Plan to the General Assembly, A/55/117, 28 June 2000, pages 1-27

3Renewal 1999 -2015.zip

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/55/117 (Links to an external site.)

 

September 28                    Project Approval/Sustainable Retrofits

2007 The benefits of the project;  approved budget and funding mechanism; the politics and failure of DC5; selecting staff, consultants, the CM and contractors;  critics, press, politicians;  NYC code issues and Sovereignty;  phasing strategies, Climate Change  USGBC LEEDS , BREEN,CASPE; role of the UN in climate discussion

Required Reading: Assessing the Carbon-Saving Value of Retrofitting versus demolition and new construction at the United Nations Headquarters, by Michael Adlerstein, 2016. (21 pages)

UN Embodied Carbon Report__26aug2016_vidaris_rev.pdfColumbia Final Sylabus Sustainable Retrofits.docx

 

October 5                               The art collection and Technology

The growth of the value and consequences of the collection;  the selection of art “gifts”;  art during construction;   Moving from 1950’smechanicals  to state of the art;  broadcast and documentation systems; robotic cameras;  preservation and window shades vs blinds;  data centers;  Con Ed electric vaults;

 Required Reading: TBD

 

October 12             Class Cancelled due to studio work. In lieu of the class, the following reading is required:

 "Sustainable Design" by David Bergman. Chapters: Eco design, active techniques, site issues, water efficiency, energy efficiency: passive techniques and energy efficiency: active techniques. 

 

October 19                         Safety and Security

NYC Fire and emergency codes; attacks on the UN overseas – raising the blast levels;,  the structural redesign;  hardening the edge;  redesign of the service drive;  the caterpillar tent

 

Required Reading:TBD

 

October 26                       Design

Retaining functionality and traditional circulation; Security Council protocols;   Secretary-General’s Office; General Assembly seating problems, Trusteeship Council preservation;  electronics in the Conference Rooms; design by donation;  protocols vs costs of labor (robotic cameras, simultaneous interpretation) ; the glass curtain wall,  accessibility codes

Required Reading:  Wallace K Harrison, Architect.  By Victoria Newhouse.  Rizzoli, New York, 1989. ISBN-10: 0847806448, chapters 11, 12 and 13- pages 104 - 143:

Victoria Newhouse -- Wallace K. Harrison -- Pages 104 to 143.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Wallace-Harrison-Architect-Victoria-Newhouse/dp/0847806448 (Links to an external site.)

 

 

November 2                           Construction 

Managing the CM, phasing the work while still in partial use, noise control, what does restoration look like?  Speed without risking safety, details, functionality,  turn over to “the house”

Required Reading: TBD

 

November 9                            Preservation

Retaining the character defining characteristics in a dangerous world;  reshaping the conference rooms for better intimacy and accessibility;  restoring the magical materials of the 50’s – formica,  naugahyde,  aluminium for stainless; 

Required Reading: TBD

 

November 16                        National Park Service -- complex partnerships projects

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Gettysburg, 

Required Reading: TBD

 

November 23                       Field Trip to the United Nations

 

 

November 30                      The Renovation of the Palais des Nations (Geneva) Jack Howard

Discussion with the leadership of the Strategic Heritage Plan

Required Reading:   TBD

 

December 7                          Final Strategy Presentations

                 

Bibliography

Books and articles:

 

1. The United Nations at 70: Restoration and Renewal.  Rizzoli, New York, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8478-4615-3

https://www.amazon.com/United-Nations-70-Restoration-Renewal/dp/0847846156 (Links to an external site.)

2. United Nations: The Story Behind the Headquarters of the World.  Max Strom, Stockholm, Sweden, 2016. ISBN-10: 9171263438

https://www.amazon.com/United-Nations-Story-Behind-Headquarters/dp/9171263438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467317254&sr=8-1&keywords=ISBN-10%3A+9171263438 (Links to an external site.)

3. “Constructing” the United Nations Headquarters: Modern Architecture as Public Diplomacy.  By Linda Sue Phipps.  Unpublished dissertation.  UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1998.

http://www.worldcat.org/title/constructing-the-united-nations-headquarters-modern-architecture-as-public-diplomacy/oclc/77701116?referer=di&ht=edition (Links to an external site.)

4. International Territory: Official Utopia and the United Nations.  Verso, London, 1994
   ISBN-10: 1859849016

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1859849016/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me (Links to an external site.)=

5. The United Nations (Building Block Series), Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. ISBN-10: 156898183X

https://www.amazon.com/United-Nations-Building-Block/dp/B007PMQM58 (Links to an external site.)

6. New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial.  The Monacelli Press, 1997. ISBN-10: 1885254857

https://www.amazon.com/New-York-1960-Architecture-Bicentennial/dp/1885254857/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467317333&sr=1-5&keywords=NYC+1960 (Links to an external site.)

7. UN at 70: how money and modernist architecture came together at the UN headquarters in New York

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11867602/UN-at-70-how-money-and-modernist-architecture-came-together-at-the-UN-headquarters-in-New-York.html (Links to an external site.)

 

Secretary-General’s Reports on the Capital Master Plan:

1. Report of the Secretary-General on the outcome of the Capital Master Plan Study, A/57/285, 8 August 2002

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/57/285 (Links to an external site.)

2. First Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/58/599, 17 November 2003

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/58/599 (Links to an external site.)

3. Second Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/59/441, 19 October 2004

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/59/441 (Links to an external site.)

4. Third Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/60/550, 11 November 2005

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/60/550 (Links to an external site.)

 

5. Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan: business analysis on the possibility of constructing a new permanent building of the North Lawn, A/60/874, 5 June 2006

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/60/874 (Links to an external site.)

6. Fourth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/61/549, 30 October 2006

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/61/549 (Links to an external site.)

7. Fifth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/62/364, 28 September 2007

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/62/364 (Links to an external site.)

8. Sixth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/63/477, 9 October 2008

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/63/477 (Links to an external site.)

9. Seventh Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/64/346, 16 September 2009

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/64/346 (Links to an external site.)

10. Eight Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/65/511, 14 October 2010

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/65/511 (Links to an external site.)

11. Ninth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/66/527, 26 October 2011

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/66/527 (Links to an external site.)

12. Tenth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/63/350, 5 September 2012

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/67/350 (Links to an external site.)

13. Eleventh Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/68/352, 27 August 2013

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/352 (Links to an external site.)

Add. 1: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/352/ADD.1 (Links to an external site.)

Add. 2: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/352/ADD.2 (Links to an external site.)

Add. 3: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/352/ADD.3 (Links to an external site.)

14. Twelfth Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/69/360, 27 August 2014

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/69/360 (Links to an external site.)

15. Thirteen Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the Capital Master Plan, A/70/343, 27 August 201

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/70/343 (Links to an external site.)