Words Sara Hart

In recent years Gensler, the international, multidisciplinary architecture firm, has developed into a leader in sustainable design. So it was a natural choice to collaborate with the Bank of America, a client for 35 years, on the corporate interiors of the financial institution’s headquarters in the new tower at One Bryant Park. Gensler’s New York City office executed a complex and demanding program: offices, cafeteria, conference centers, auditoriums and six state-of-the-art trading floors, all occupying 36 floors and 1.7 million square feet.

Gensler’s commitment to sustainability is evident in every detail. In the early design stages, Gensler and Cook + Fox developed an approach to the building’s core and floor plans that increases overall systems integration. In the open-plan areas, offices and conference rooms, cool air is delivered through an under-floor plenum, then rises as it warms, and is exhausted through return ducts in the ceiling. Each floor has a filtration system that removes 95 percent of particulates and potentially harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from outside air. In order to ensure the performance of this clean-air initiative, Gensler specified paints, coatings, and adhesives that are VOC- and formaldehyde-free.

Sustainability was not antithetical to aesthetics. Natural materials, such as stone and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood, reflect Gensler’s commitment to environmental responsibility, but they were also chosen to reflect Bryant Park’s seasonal cycles. Walls, floors, and ceilings in the trading-floor lobby and conference center are oak veneer over an FSC-certified substrate, stained a rich walnut color.

Volume and scale posed many environmental challenges that required effort beyond the specification of recycled content in flooring, fabrics and tiles. The trading floors alone required hundreds of desks. Gensler encouraged the furniture manufacturers Geiger and Innovant to develop sustainable products for these floors, resulting in Greenguard certification for all the desks. In addition, task seating is 41 percent recycled content by weight, including post-consumer and post-industrial components. From this comprehensive effort to create New York City’s most environmentally responsible corporate headquarters, Gensler expects to receive LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

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