From the Living Architecture Monitor

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center sits on the lower west side of Manhattan in New York City and serves as one of the busiest convention centers in the United States, hosting conference, trade shows, and other major events throughout the year. 2014 saw the completion of a significant facelift for the facility, including, among other upgrades, a 6.75 acre extensive green roof, the second largest in North America at the time. Since then, the Javits Center has enjoyed a wealth of benefits from the green roof such as a reduction in energy usage, better temperature regulation, substantially reduced stormwater runoff, and an unexpected explosion of biodiversity, attracting birds, bats, and insects that had previously been absent from the area due to it’s being so highly developed and impervious.

Today, the Javits Center operates one of the most robust sustainability programs of any building in New York State, further supported by the completion of a 1.2 million square-foot expansion project, led by the New York Convention Center Development Corporation, contractors Lendlease and Turner and architectural firm, TVS Design. This project encompasses several innovative concepts designed to push the boundaries of sustainability and create a path for future initiatives. Since 2014, the Javits Center has reduced the building’s energy consumption by 26%, created a rooftop wildlife habitat and installed energy-efficient equipment throughout the structure on Manhattan’s West Side. As a result, the expansion has earned LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.