3/04, Cook + Fox Architects

On Tuesday, March 4th Cole and I visited Cook and Fox architects on 6th avenue and 20th street. We were given a tour of the facilities by Alice Hartley. She was a very good tour guide and explained everything very well. I was surprised at how many projects they had going on and how nice and organized the firm seemed to be. I was also interested to learn about The Bank of America Tower which is a new green skyscraper. I was surprised that a firm that seemed to be small in size designed this very complex building and got it certified for a very prestigious award. Along with that project I also learned a lot about how they turned the office they are in now into a green space. I learned about the LEED rating system which is the system that rates green buildings. There are 5 different types of LEED certification, Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Both the Bank of America Tower and the Cook and Fox office are LEED Platinum, the highest award possible. I also learned a lot of different points about green architecture that I will be able to use during our day of learning to the middle school, such as recyclable materials used to build the interior, ways to save water and energy and how these architects find ways to clean the air in buildings.  I’m hoping I can contact more architecture firms to learn a little bit more about what they do.

– Quinn