Touring The “Taj Mahal Of Sanitation”
Last Tuesday was likely the only day of the year that you’d find New Yorkers eagerly lined up outside the Department of Sanitation.
Organized through the Centre for Architecture’s “Archtober” month, the group of 30 had all purchased tickets to tour the Department’s two newest buildings: 1/2/5 Garage and the Salt Shed. Over the one-and-a-half hour visit, the tour group learned about the buildings’ sustainable architecture and operational efficiencies.
The tour started with the larger of the two buildings, 1/2/5 Garage, which stores and maintains all of the equipment the Department of Sanitation needs to service the New York City districts numbered 1, 2, and 5. The building is LEED Gold certified, awarded for the architect’s ability to successfully incorporate sustainable and active design into their planning.
The sustainable aspect is largely captured in two design features. The first is the 2,600 “fins” or sun-shades that line the outside of the building, adjusting throughout the day on a time-clock to mitigate the sun, explained Gia Mainiero, a Senior Associate at Dattner Architects.
Second is the building’s green roof — not usually set up for public access — which has over 13,000 low-maintenance succulents growing on-top. The roof also houses two large tanks which collect both rainwater and greywater that, in conjunction with captured steam condensate, are reused in the Department’s truck wash bays.
The stairwells in 1/2/5 Garage are designed to be expansive, easily accessible and with beautiful views of the Hudson, all to encourage sanitation workers to take the stairs. This is a central tenet of “active design,” which recognizes the health and well-being of a building’s occupants as an important driver for urban design.
When asked if they’ve tracked the stairwells effectiveness, Mainiero said they hadn’t but she had noticed some wear-and-tear on the concrete steps. Department of Sanitation Chief Keith Mills, who affectionately called the building “the Taj Mahal of Sanitation,” said while he uses the stairs, his workers still tend to rely on the elevators.
Mills led the tour around the operations bays within 1/2/5 Garage and stopped to proudly show the machine-one of 36-that “saves” New York’s streets each winter from being snowed-in. The “hot tub,” as Mills called it, melts snow at a rapid pace and efficiently gets rid of the resulting water through its connection to speed sewers. They have used these hot tubs in Times Square, Lower Manhattan and Wall Street over the years.
The Department of Sanitation also owns the critically-acclaimed Salt Shed across the street. The group learned that the Shed can hold up to 5,000 gallons of salt, imported from Chile this year, and is also designed by Dattner Architects and WXY Architecture + Urban Design. The building was also used as a backdrop for design during Fashion Week and as the tour commenced, another fashion shoot could be seen taking place out front.
One visitor, a software engineer, attended this tour because he was interested to learn how buildings of high design could happen even amidst city bureaucracy. Another visitor who is a local realtor was curious to see the buildings after all the community controversy about having garbage trucks housed in their backyards.
With both buildings completing construction only this past December, this was the first tour Archtober — now in its sixth year — hosted at the Department of Sanitation. And what was once feared by neighbors is now seemingly celebrated by architects and citizens alike.
