Located at 1 Bryant Park in Manhattan, this leading-edge sustainable building - leased by Durst to Bank of America - is the first LEED Platinum skyscraper in New York.

Solar Control Challenge: Design a shading strategy for multi-angled windows -- including trapezoidal, parallelograms and folded shapes -- totaling 600,000 sq. ft of clear floor-to-ceiling glass curtainwall.

Solution: To meet the aesthetic and performance requirements, Nysan custom-engineered two-inch louvered blinds with hinged slats. In each uniquely shaped window throughout the building, the hinges allowed these innovative blinds to tilt open and/or retract as needed.

Featuring either motorized or manual chain operators, the shading system manages the amount of daylight entering the building, filters glare, and controls thermal gain. The motorized louvered blinds offer automated scheduled and sun-tracking control through Nysan's Solarware™ Control System, an intelligent networking system of shade controllers.

"This state-of-the-art system actively responds to changes in weather and building conditions to manage solar thermal gain and optimize daylighting," said Frits Nijs, President of Nysan Solar Control. "As a result, the system contributes to lower energy costs."

Rationale and Results

The Bank of America building at 1 Bryant Park represents an exceptional integration of design and high-performance technologies focusing on green environmental initiatives. Designed by Cook + Fox Architects, the structure was creatively engineered to maximize natural sunlight into the building and increase indoor air quality. This approach sought to create a healthy, positive work environment that in turn would reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

In a recent Newsweek article, Rick Cook from Cook + Fox Architects describes his firm's philosophy for the project: "What makes the Bank of America Tower sustainable? It will save about half the energy that most buildings its size would use. But the real story is in terms of health, productivity and light..." he says. "People feel better when they feel connected to nature so we've created naturally lit environments..."

The firm also designed 1 Bryant Park to generate its own energy on site and created systems to minimize water use, in order to reduce impact on the surrounding cityscape. BOA's 2.1 million square feet of office space is configured to permit more light and air onto the street and respond to varying sun angles as the Sun travels through the sky.

From its basic energy and water systems to the shades at every window, 1 Bryant Park - named project of the year for 2009 by the Society of American Registered Architects - can lay claim to being one of the most environmentally sustainable structures in the world.