SouthWorks Capacity Building: Adaptive Reuse, Decarbonization and the Ithaca Green New Deal
Spring 2023 - MArch Studio IV - with Margaret Kirk
The construction industry is the biggest consumer of energy and resources, as well as the biggest producer of emissions and waste. Buildings and construction together account for about 50% of resource extraction, at least 40% of carbon dioxide emissions and 40% of solid waste production globally. Within the USA alone, 600 million tons of construction and demolition debris (CDD) are generated each year (twice the amount of municipal solid waste), making up about 40% of landfill waste in the country. All of these factors are dominant reasons for climate change and we – as (future) architects – play a significant role in shaping the future of our planet.
As a way to overcome the social, economic, and environmental problems of the current linear economic system, the concept of the circular economy is increasingly gaining attention, defined as one that is ‘restorative and regenerative by design and aims to keep assets, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times’. The consequent closing of production and consumption loops offers not only the possibility to end the loss of valuable finite resources, but also to reduce dependencies on global, volatile resource markets, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, and support new business models and green job opportunities.
In parts, the industry shows clear signs of a fundamental rethinking, driven by new carbon regulations, a new sensitivity of both client and architect and improved and more readily available tools and technologies. In late 2022, the AIA reported that renovation and retrofit projects for the first time accounted for more than 50% of total billings in the country. And locally, on June 5th 2019, the City of Ithaca’s Common Council unanimously adopted the Ithaca Green New Deal, the nation’s most progressive policy on climate-change, economic inequality and racial justice aiming for community-wide carbon-neutrality by 2030. Sub-goals of the Ithaca Green New Deal include 100% renewable electricity for all city government operations by 2025, a 50% emissions reduction from the city vehicle fleet by 2025, the promise to share these benefits among all local communities to reduce historical social and economic inequities and the facilitation of a comprehensive public engagement process. As part of the process, the city already adapted a new and rigorous Green Building Code for new buildings in 2019 and is currently developing a similar code for existing buildings.
Most importantly, in 2022, Ithaca announced public-private partnerships to decarbonize all 6000 residential and commercial buildings in the city by 2030. The plans include the complete electrification of all buildings and appliances within the next 7 years, the installation of heat pumps across all structures as well as retrofitting scenarios to reduce electricity loads and increase insulation values across the whole city. The plans further outline financing models that allow the implementation of these changes at no or low costs for building owners across the city.
The studio operates within this framework, developing a carbon-neutral adaptive reuse project within the former Emerson Power Transmission plant on South Hill as workforce development hub for the City and the Ithaca Green New Deal. The so-called SouthWorks project is a $350 million transformative redevelopment of the 95-acre and 820K+ SF vacant industrial site into a mixed-use neighborhood with a combination of multifamily, retail, office, tech, commercial, and industrial uses. The site has 32 developable acres and is approved for 1.7 million square feet of building, with 800K SF of adaptive reuse and 900K SF of new construction. The existing buildings in the core were built between 1906 and the 1970’s and used in a manufacturing capacity until the plant closure in 2011. They have obsolete infrastructure that requires upgrades to be utilized for modern industrial, manufacturing, and commercial purposes. The site underwent extensive environmental remediation and received DEC approval of the Site Management Plan in October 2022. The project received Site Plan Approval from the City of Ithaca in 2019 and went through an extensive Generic Environmental Impact Statement in accordance with SEQRA.
Tompkins County has seen unprecedented development over the past decade. Demand for workers in the construction and manufacturing industries has been met with a local skills gap, so jobs have been given to out-of-area workers. The SouthWorks team aims to develop a workforce training program with local partners in the construction, light manufacturing, and green trades up to NYSED standards. SouthWorks will be an active construction site for the next decade and provides an opportunity for onsite training and hands-on instruction in skilled trades including carpentry, electrical, HVAC, light manufacturing, and green trades, as well as job placement onsite and with local construction and manufacturing companies.
The SouthWorks Capacity Building studio aims to combine the overarching concepts of adaptive reuse, circular construction and decarbonization in an effort to support the local decarbonization efforts of the City of Ithaca within the SouthWorks project. Experts of the City, the involved business as well as the developer will be active participants in the studio and provide the real-world foundation for the student’s discoveries and innovations towards truly integrative design projects.
