The Whitney Museum of American Art officially debuts its new downtown location May 1, trading the Upper East Side for the meatpacking district. The 220,000-square-foot contemporary art museum is designed by architect Renzo Piano and will include a 170-seat theater, a black box theater with an adjacent outdoor gallery, and double the exhibition space of its previous home. The museum is seeking LEED Gold certification and incorporated a number of sustainable features such as a cogeneration plant to help the museum reduce its energy cost by 22.2 percent. A green roof, plaza-level planters, and a storm water detention tank reduce storm water runoff, and the museum’s housekeeping plan limits the use of harmful chemicals in the building. During construction, one-fifth of the construction materials were recycled.
The South of France-inspired bakery Maman, which opened in SoHo in October, has woven a number of eco-friendly practices into its operations. Its food packaging comes from Green Packaging, which specializes in compostable food packaging. Its to-go boxes are made from a variety of surplus agricultural and wildly grown plant fibers such as bulrush, bagasse, bamboo, and wheatstalk. The plants are grown for food and other purposes, with the byproduct used in the tree- and bleach-free packaging. For private events, the space seats 24 or holds 30 for receptions.
