Battery Park - the green building in the park

I had a great trip downtown today to the Battery Park Library. Now a master of the New York subway map, I jumped on a number 1 train and off I went. One thing to report to all those who may one day come to NYC in the summer - the subway is absolutely NOT air-conditioned. People walk around the subway platforms dripping in perspiration and no-one seems to notice. Obviously this is just the way it is in summer. Being in the subway on a very hot day is a bit like standing in front of a heater on high with a huge fan behind it blowing the hot air all around you. It is not nice. Anyway back to the story. The Battery Park Library is a branch of the NYPL and is another award winning building (like Bronx). While this branch doesn't have a particular teen space, it is a brand new library in a 'green' building, so the visit was certainly worthwhile. Some of the reasons this has received a high credit for being green are:

The carpet you see here to the left is actually made from discarded car tyres. It is amazing. I'm not sure what else is added to the mix, but somehow great multi grey colour carpet squares are made and they look great in a modern building.

Now here's a story. When windows are produced they have timber corners fitted to protect them. The timber corners are generally thrown away. These corners have been used to make this hard and good looking flooring used throughout the branch.

The front panel of the circulation desk is made from laminated cardboard which looks amazingly similar to a normal laminex panel, the building is heated with hot water and cooled with cold water. How this actually occurs I am not sure, however Billy (the library branch manager) showed me an LCD panel which reports energy savings and will in the future show comparative data. As the branch only opened in April, there is some time yet before annual comparisons can be made. The branch is very bright and has a number of surrounding parks which are used for story time through the warmer months. It is a branch very close to Ground Zero which is fast becoming a new residential apartment area and a great place to live for families, so there is quite an expectation that within the next couple of years the branch will definitely grow their programs and the level of use will grow with it. This is a very impressive library with a special feel and a branch manager who obviously loves what he is doing and his surroundings.