BBS Architects & Engineers to complete 22,000 s/f cemetery facility

Among the region's leading sustainable design firms, Patchogue, NY-based BBS Architects & Engineers has gained prominence as a designer of green institutional and educational facilities. One example of BBS' green expertise is the 22,000 s/f St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery Welcoming and Information Center, currently under construction. BBS designed the building to fulfill LEED Silver certification requirements. The client, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, presented the architects with a set of varied functions to be incorporated into the new building, recalls BBS principal and the project's lead designer Roger Smith, AIA, LEED AP. "The new structure was to house administrative offices, sales and customer service personnel, family meeting rooms, a chapel, and support facilities such as conference and storage rooms." The local building code presented the project team with an additional challenge. "The Town of Babylon, which includes Farmingdale, requires all new, public use buildings of more than 5,000 s/f to comply with LEED requirements," said Smith. BBS set out to develop a design that would accommodate the functional and sustainability requirements while taking into consideration the surrounding landscape and visually expressing the cemetery and religious functions of the building. In addition to BBS, which serves as architect, interior designer, and MEP engineer, the design team includes structural engineer Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C. and site and landscape designer Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. According to BBS project manager James Weydig, AIA, LEED AP, "The structure's architecture reflects the open, horizontal plain of the surrounding area." The one-story building features a shallow pitch roof and horizontal bands of clapboard siding and stone veneer. Two vertical architectural elements balance the façade's predominant horizontality - an entrance portico and a carillon bell tower with a mounted crucifix that articulates the facility's religious and cemetery character. The exterior materials increase the building's perceived mass and grounding and also reflect the surrounding landscape. The facade features cultured limestone and granite with rusticated appearance that echoes the materials prevalent in mausoleums and memorials. The 13,800 s/f ground floor houses a striking central lobby, administrative and sales offices, customer service and interment coordination departments, and a chapel that provides daily mass services. The 8,060 s/f below grade colonnade level houses records storage, group function areas, offices, and utility rooms. The lobby features a durable, polished concrete floor with a rich, golden tone finish. The designers have incorporated numerous material, equipment, and engineering solutions that fulfill the LEED requirements and are not commonly utilized in the cemetery environment. Development of the surrounding five-acre site that encompasses parking, circulation roads, and utility connections provided the opportunity to introduce sustainable landscaping and water management techniques. These include creating large, naturally landscaped rain gardens that collect the rainwater runoff and planting low-maintenance grass species native to the region. Sustainable exterior materials include cementitious siding with a high recycled content and low-E, high-efficiency windows. The LEED-certified MEP equipment and fixtures include an energy-saving HVAC system; electronically-controlled, low-flow faucets and toilets; and waterless urinals. The lighting design achieved the required light levels with a reduced wattage per s/f through extensive daylighting and use of low-energy fixtures.