The New York Center for Sustainable Energy (NYCSE) has opened at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park becoming New York City's first net zero educational center. The center is sustainably designed, entirely off-grid and modular. NYCSE will also serve Brooklyn Bridge Park's daily operations by collecting and storing solar energy, which is used to charge the Park's electric security and maintenance fleet.
NYCSE's mission is to inform the public about clean energy and conducts tours and educational programs for students, provides lectures and seminars to adults, and produces exhibits that examine the impact of energy choices on the Earth's environment. The Center will also host workshops for teachers and corporate sustainability executives.
"The Conservancy is planning a full roster of activities at this exciting new educational center," said Nancy Webster, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.
Global architecture, design and consulting firm, Gensler, helped develop NYCSE's prototype location and designed an inspiring learning environment for the community. The firm's design team helped transform the Park's electric vehicle (EV) charging station -- built from used shipping containers -- to a vibrant and functional education and research center by introducing design elements that play off the bold and rough character of the shipping containers to integrate various indoor and outdoor classrooms. These elements showcase the sustainable energy components of the solar charging station.
Most of the materials used to build NYCSE were salvaged and repurposed, and the entire project was sponsored by New York energy developer Beautiful Earth Group. "The Center is a great example of upcycling. We took the existing solar powered EV charging station and transformed it into an exciting, new learning center with only one additional container. Design played a key role," said Beautiful Earth President and CEO Lex Heslin. "We really enjoyed repurposing materials into new uses, like the old wooden beams which had washed up on the park's shoreline which are being made into beautiful long, benches."
Beautiful Earth is currently working to bring NYCSE and EV charging stations to parks in the other boroughs of NYC.
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