Future Forward

The impact of architecture on the environment is long lasting. The future therefore starts with the plans we make today. We think ahead to a world where the next generation will benefit from healthy environments, ecologically sustainable buildings and communities, and conservation of precious natural resources.

Charles F. Murphy Early Childhood Development Center

PS IS 191 Riverside School for Makers & Artists

Charles F. Murphy Early Childhood Development Center is a FEMA funded new facility that was built in Coney Island's recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy. This early childhood center is a critical provider of pre-K education for the neighborhood and it provides safe harbor to the community in the event of another storm like Hurricane Sandy.

We are dedicated to achieving high levels of urban sustainability and density – pioneering green civic and residential design and helping communities affected by climate change. The Bronx Library Center led the trend to make public Buildings in New York City LEED certified; Chestnut Commons pioneered the application of Passive House standards to high rise construction; each of the city’s new public school building follow the principles of the Green School’s Guide which our firm was commissioned to produce.

Our Sustainable Practice Group (SPG) facilitates a positive environmental impact and improves occupant health, equity, and the resilience of Dattner projects through research on energy use, renewable energy, indoor environment and human health, sustainable materials, site ecology, and urban infrastructure.

Pioneering Green Building in the Public Realm

Completed in 2001, the ACS Children’s Center was the first major “green” demonstration project for the New York City Department of Design and Construction and was profiled by New York Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) as an energy efficient building. Completed in 2005, the Bronx Library Center was the first public building in NYC to achieve LEED Silver Certification.

Our approach is to be ambitious in our goals, but strategic in our methods. To be effective, sustainability does not have to rely on expensive and difficult technologies, or superlative performance, but often on encouraging the widespread implementation of readily available ideas, practices and technologies that will have broad, systemic impact on our shared environment.

Environmental Design & Health

Environmental health and personal health are intimately related. While the 19^th century conquered infectious disease through better infrastructure, sanitation and housing standards, we are currently faced with the challenge of non-communicable or chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and other ailments that are in part related to the built environment, from living conditions, sedentary lifestyles, food deserts and reliance on the automobile. The recent Covid pandemic also brings contagion in new forms. As designers, we have a role to play, in partnership with other to find solutions to these problems.

Environmental Design & Affordability

What good is environmental design if its benefits are not widely shared? At its most basic, the measure of environmental progress is based on how it fits into the greater environmental context, how well cities, states and countries are performing collectively. For that reason our big, grey cities are in fact the greenest of environments: efficiently using space through density and minimizing our carbon footprint through mass transportation. Our urbanistic fascination is inevitably tied to sustainability and convinces us that environmental design must serve the greatest number. While it is not cost free, it must be affordable, accessible and the benefits must be widely distributed. Design that focuses on these essentials is vital to our society as a whole, to those areas and communities that are most directly affected, and to foster participation and support at the neighborhood and individual level.

R+D CoLab Report: Urban Green Infrastructure + Public Space

Dattner Architects R+D CoLab conducted months of research and published the “Urban Green Infrastructure and Public Space Report”.

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The report covered the history, public policy, case studies, and design strategies used to address the complexities of developing green infrastructure in New York City.

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Based on their extensive research, the R+D CoLab team created a “strategies, technologies, & materials glossary” that serve as a resource toolkit for designers.

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Dattner Co-Authors invited public policy and landscape design experts to lead an interactive panel. The discussion focused on challenges of implementing contemporary green infrastructure at various scales as well as public advocacy and design strategies that can create a positive impact on public space.

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Future Forward

Future Forward

Future Forward

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