ABC No Rio

Will you help us complete this picture?

Hard as it may be to believe, we’ve raised $4 million of the $5 million we need to build No Rio’s new home!!!

But we still need another cool million…

We’re moving forward, working closely with New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Department of Design and Construction to build a fantastic new building. DDC will manage construction — they’re already reviewing our architectural and engineering documents, a process that is far more rigorous than we could ever have imagined. Our construction documents should be complete before the year is out.

We could begin construction next summer, but we still need another cool million…

The new ABC No Rio will be spectacular. We’ll have twice as much space for exhibitions, music, performances and other public events. We’re creating spaces especially designed for our projects and programs. The building will be properly sound-proofed and wheelchair accessible. 

Our new building will meet the rigorous Passive House energy efficiency standard through a high-performance building envelope with super-insulated walls and a cutting-edge heat-recovery ventilation system. We’ll be significantly more efficient than the state energy code requires. With a green roof, efficient lighting fixtures and controls, triple-paned, low “e-glazed” windows, and low-flow plumbing fixtures the new building will meet the criteria for LEED Silver.

Sustainable design is not just for mind numbing offices and luxury condos. Small grassroots spaces can be the most sustainable.

But… we still need another cool million to make that happen!

Your support is crucial to ensuring we move forward towards a bigger, better and brighter future. We trust that you will join us, and that we can count on your contribution to ABC No Rio as the year comes to a close.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION TODAY!

You can donate by way of PayPal through our support page at
http://www.abcnorio.org/support/support.html

Or send a check or money order to
ABC No Rio
156 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

More information about our new building is at
http://www.abcnorio.org/newbuilding.php

Thanks for your support!

This link is to an article in the NY Times about the Passive House standard in construction:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/business/energy-environment/26smart.html

Passive House is the standard to which we are building the new ABC No Rio facility. The firm briefly profiled in the article, Zero Energy Design, is the outfit we hired as consultants in this area, and the engineer quoted, Jordan Goldman, is designing our HVAC system and consulting in passive house modeling.

Although people seem most interested and responsive to things like the solar voltaic system and the green roof, passive house is really the “cutting edge” aspect of our project, as far as the green initiatives go. I was surprised to learn from the article that there are only 13 passive house certified buildings in the entire U.S. (I thought there were at least a couple dozen).

Through our project we really will be an example for others of a responsible and far-sighted building practice.

Drilling for soil samples; mid-July 2010

We know it may seem as if it’s taking us forever to move forward with our new building project. We do appreciate everyone’s patience. And we are making progress and moving forward.

We are working closely with the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Design and Construction (DDC). As we received substantial funding from the City, DDC will be managing construction, and their review of our architect’s and engineers’ design and construction documents is rigorous and extensive.

A few weeks ago we brought in a crew to drill for soil samples and to find the water level. With this rig out front they drilled to 100 feet, and took soil samples every five feet. With a smaller rig in the rear yard they went down 50 feet.

Although we haven’t yet received the geo-technical report, we don’t anticipate that either water or soil quality will require any change to our proposed design.