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Operable windows, which often constitute occupants' primary tactile experience of a building's envelope, are simple, elegant, and satisfyingly sturdy. Lighting fixtures and interior finishes are thoughtfully chosen.

The building's aesthetic achievements integrate an array of sustainable design elements. Roofs covered in greenery reduce stormwater runoff, minimize heat gain, temper the microclimate, and improve the view.

Water conserving fixtures, Energy Star appliances, efficient lighting, occupancy sensors and controls, black-water treatment technology, microturbine cogeneration, a centralized heating and cooling system, and those snazzy photovoltaics all play their part in earning the Helena her green accolades.

Moreover, some units in the Helena are reserved for tenants unable to afford market-rate housing.

Business of Conservation

The impetus for designing a residential highrise building on sustainable principles came from the building's visionary owners, the Durst Organization in collaboration with Rose Associates. Durst also provided the guiding intention behind FXFOWLE's design for Four Times Square. "It's the way they do business," says Kaplan, "Everything they do has a strong component of sustainability."

This is increasingly true of the FXFOWLE architects themselves, who find clients come to them with issues of sustainability already a priority. This may be attributable to the firm's reputation as the authors of such projects as the New York Times Building (in collaboration with Renzo Piano) and the LEED platinum-rated Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo. The Helena is expected to receive a gold LEED rating.

But, according to Kaplan, it is also because sustainable design is more generally on clients' radar. "Compared to five or eight years ago," he says, "they know what it is, and they want to do it. Among institutional clients, the question is why aren't you doing a green building."

Commercial clients, on the other hand, still tend to show an extreme sensitivity to first costs, and sustainability benefits clients primarily by lowering operating costs. In Kaplan's experience, a developer of condominium units and a developer of rental units will take completely different attitudes toward, for example, lighting efficiency in corridors.

The Helena's corridor lighting consists of two lamps with two bulbs, one on a motion sensor: the savings in operating costs will more than repay the up-front costs of wiring and sensors for that configuration. The Helena's owners will realize those savings; a condo developer wouldn't see a penny.

Likewise, a corporation's headquarters and a speculative office building will express very different attitudes toward capital and operating costs. The New York Times building, for example, includes an efficient cogeneration plant, infrastructure a speculative developer would have no incentive to install. Says Kaplan: "our concern with how to make things less expensive is both the genius and the tragedy of American building trades."

In hard costs up-front, the Helena cost three to five percent more than a comparable conventional building. Intuition and anecdote say sustainable values add to a building's desirability, but the revenue impact is impossible to measure definitively. Increased returns from a sustainable building's higher desirability are expected not so much from higher rates, but from velocity: how quickly units rent. If the Helena rents for the same price as her conventional neighbor, but her vacancies fill six weeks sooner, simply put, that's a lot of money.

In the end, Kaplan says, a decision about which sustainable options to apply comes down to consideration, judgment, and balance. While sustainable options abound, studies evaluating their performance are notoriously hard to find. "Mechanical consultants are your allies," says Kaplan. Consultants, designers, quantity surveyor, owner, construction manager, building type, climate, and market must all contribute to the selection.

For the broad goal of sustainable design, however, these decisions may not be the crucial ones. According to Kaplan, sustainability is more simply achieved: "Reusing brownfield sites, providing access to mass transit, supporting livable densities, and adding to the vitality of the city. In terms of process and typology, the best thing architects and developers can do for sustainable design is to select urban sites."

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Katharine Logan designs and writes to further a more meaningful and sustainable built environment.

SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The Helena, New York City, is a 580-unit apartment building designed by FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS A composition of transparency and opacity, topped by photovoltaic panels. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS The Helena among Manhattan's highrises. Image: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS Ground floor plan. Image: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS The Helena's balconies. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS Metal and glass in a composition that balances verve with restraint. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS The Helena's balconies. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS One of the Helena's green roofs. Photo: FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.