CGC building selected as winner of 2011 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design
and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies
 
Designed by FXFOWLE Architects, CGC will be included in “New World Architecture” exhibition in Buenos Aires followed by European tour

Bronx, NY – August 23, 2011 – The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Center for Global Conservation, located at WCS’s Bronx Zoo, has been selected to receive the 2011 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
 
The American Architectural Awards are the highest and most prestigious distinguished building awards program in the United States that honors new and cutting-edge design. The award recognizes the most significant new contemporary architecture, landscape architecture, interiors, and urban planning in the United States.
 
The Wildlife Conservation Society opened the Center for Global Conservation in 2009. It was designed with many state-of-the-art green strategies including an east-west orientation that takes full advantage of natural lighting and a micro-turbine plant that generates electricity for the building and uses waste heat for heating and cooling needs. Because of this design and construction, the building’s energy consumption is approximately 48 percent less than a traditionally powered building of similar size.
 
In addition to the award, the Center for Global Conservation will be included in the exhibition of award-winning buildings called New World Architecture at the The Chicago Athenaeum’s annual symposium, The City and the World, in Buenos Aires in October 2011. The exhibition will travel throughout Europe from January to June 2012.
 
“We are encouraged by this recognition and will continue to take a leadership role in green architectural practices,” said Steve Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
 
Designed by FXFOWLE Architects, a New York City-based architectural, interior design, planning and urban design firm, the Center for Global Conservation is a 40,000-square-foot green building that serves as WCS’s command center for its conservation work around the globe. The building’s design elements showcase WCS’s commitment to sustainable practices by means of environmentally sound architecture and operations.
 
“Three mandates guided our design of the Center for Global Conservation,” said Sylvia Smith, FAIA, LEED AP, Senior Partner at FXFOWLE. “It was our goal to sensitively integrate the building with its site; to foster a greater sense of occupant well-being through strong connections to nature; and to minimize energy and resource use.”  
 
The Center for Global Conservation has received other design accolades. It achieved LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and was recognized by the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.  Additionally, CGC has received the following awards:

  • Architect Magazine Citation, Bond Category (Institutional, Cultural, & Religious), 2010
  • Society of American Registered Architects Design Award of Honor, 2010  
  • AIA New York State Award of Merit, Institutional, 2010  
  • Environmental Design + Construction Magazine Excellence in Design - Institutional, 2010
Contact:
Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org
Steve Fairchild – 718-220-5189; sfairchild@wcs.org


The Wildlife Conservation Society
saves wildlife and wild places worldwide.  We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony.  WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. .

If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to: www.wcs.org/donation


FXFOWLE: Founded over 33 years ago, FXFOWLE is an architectural, interior design, planning, and urban design firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Dubai. The firm’s diverse portfolio includes work of all types and scales across the globe, and has garnered international recognition for its design quality, technical innovation, and environmental responsibility.