FXCollaborative

The David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center is a transformation of a Beaux Arts orangery at the historic Rockefeller estate in Tarrytown, New York, into a highly sustainable multidisciplinary arts facility. Built in 1908 and designed by William Welles Bosworth, the monumentally scaled pavilion fell into disrepair after being dormant since the 1930s. FXCollaborative’s design reuses as much of the existing structure as possible, establishes new connections to the landscape beyond, and provides flexibility for a variety of arts programming. The project is LEED v4 BD+C Platinum certified with the highest score in New York State and will pursue LEED Zero Energy certification. It is designed to achieve 50 percent energy savings over applicable code, with on-site PV panels generating enough energy to support the building. A life cycle analysis of the structure and building envelope determined that the design reduced embodied carbon by 33 percent relative to the same retrofit with standard materials. Responsibly sourced steel, concrete with up to 60 percent of the cement replaced by slag, and insulation with low global warming potential contributed to this success.