What more could you ask for? A stellar music lineup every week in this Brooklyn venue is the icing on this LEED-certified bowling alley.

Last week, the Emerging Professionals took a behind-the-scenes tour of Brooklyn Bowl to hear firsthand the many facets of its sustainable design from co-owner Charley Ryan.

Charley walked us through the trials and tribulations of becoming the world’s first LEED certified bowling alley.  Starting with the envelope, we were surprised to learn that not only were the original flooring and walls preserved in this former iron foundry but so were the rafters – including the illuminating skylights’ strategic placement.  Where new flooring is concerned, the stage consists of 100% recycled truck tires and the bowling lounge is 100% reclaimed cork.  Even the carnival-themed decor, from the clown bean bags to the shooting gallery birds, was recycled from movie sets.  The materials used throughout the venue aren’t just sustainably-produced or salvaged, they’re local.  The majority of the furniture, fixtures, and building materials were sourced from Brooklyn.  Even the 10 draught beers were brewed here – much of it from their adjacent neighbor Brooklyn Brewery.

Erica peruses a book on their design process while Charley describes the difficulties of sound-proofing the roof.

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The Emerging Professionals (EP), a committee of Urban Green Council, is a coalition of young professionals in the New York City area involved in the green building movement through hosting educational seminars, networking and other social events. Jessica Cooper (LB Architects) and Nicole McGlinn (KPF), in conjunction with UGC Board Member Molly Zinzi (Google) and Caitlin McCusker (Urban Green Council), are the leaders of EP.

On April 28th, twenty-eight young professionals joined us for a rapid-fire charrette challenge that asked them to direct their creative energy towards the Active Design Guidelines. The national Natural Talent Design Competition is taking a year hiatus to build the 2010 winning projects in New Orleans, of which one of the top four winners is our group’s submission: RAMPed UP.  Undeterred, we decided to offer an alternative: a local charrette competition.

To prepare for the upcoming challenge a week prior, the seven teams met us at one of the premier examples of Active Design in NYC: the High Line.  Scavenger hunt style, they navigated the city and recorded three examples of ‘good’ Active Design and three examples of ‘bad’ Active Design. Aside from informing them that they would need to ‘get creative’ on the 29th, no other information was disclosed.

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A big congratulations to the Urban Green Council Emerging Professionals, whose Natural Talent Design entry “RAMPed UP” was placed in the Top four by a national jury and is now slated to be built in New Orleans’ Broadmoor neighborhood!

Team Name: “RAMPed UP”
Team Members: from Buro Happold, Irmak Turan, Daniel Bersohn, Tim Hanna, Rossella Nicolin, and Lauren Page; from Rogers Marvel: Yavuz Akcora, Nicholas McDermott, Shane Neufeld, and Jenny Wu

Check out other finalists:

Team Name: “Rising to the Challenge”
Team Members: Emily Balaban, Emily Clark, Jaliya Fonseka, Rebecca Lai, Laura Langridge, David McMurchy, Andy Oh, Laura Pellow,and Steven Zhao
Team affiliation: University of Waterloo School of Architecture, University of Waterloo

Team Name: “Focus on Essential Values”
Team Members: Alan Stevenson, AIA, LEED AP, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Charlie Marino, LEED AP, AKF Group LLC