Trump Tower Philadelphia Goes Green

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPhiladelphia–Trump Tower Philadelphia is expected to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification when complete.The 45-story luxury condo project features 225 residences with 363 parking spaces. The project offers 60,000 square feet of amenities including a tranquil spa, fitness center, indoor pool, on-premise restaurant, wine cellar and tasting room, cigar lounge, and business center with conference and screening rooms. Outdoor amenities include a tennis court, outdoor pool, jogging track, putting green and serenity gardens.“We are committed to an eco-friendly development on all levels,” says Donald J. Trump, CEO of the Trump Organization. “Trump Tower Philadelphia will be a comprehensive nod to the environmental concerns that should be considered the norm, not the exception. Luxury and conservation can and will co-exist—and in a very beautiful way.  It will be a fantastic contribution to Philadelphia and to the ethics of modern day developments.”Built on a “brownfield” site, Trump Tower Philadelphia is reusing land previously used for industrial purposes, and no virgin land will be disturbed by this development.“We are doing everything we can to make Trump Tower Philadelphia the most sustainable building possible,” says Bill Alesker, president of Alesker & Dundon, the architecture firm that is designing Trump Tower Philadelphia. The project’s sustainable features include roofs that will be landscaped and used for recreation with the exception of a small portion of the building’s highest roof, which will house mechanical equipment. There will also be a “living” wall running along the entire south side of the complex and extending to the public plaza over the Delaware River. At the east end of the site is a public walkway lined by another living wall, which enhances the view of the walkway while filtering fumes from the adjacent parking garage.The greenroofs are designed to retain water after rain and self-irrigate. Instead of using fresh water to irrigate the plant life at Trump Tower Philadelphia during drier months, condensate from the air conditioning system is collected and reused for watering. Excess rainwater collected from the landscapes and parking areas will be purified and used to replenish the Delaware River.All heat is reused twice before being filtered out. Each unit comes equipped with floor-to-ceiling walls of tinted windows with low-E double-glazing to reduce heat gain and lessen the need for air conditioning in the summer. Large, curved terraces on the south side of the building and overhanging planters on the west side help to shade windows during high-sun hours in the summer and save air conditioning energy.  “If sustainability can be achieved, it will not be the result of any one or even several great discoveries,” says Alesker, “It will be the sum of countless small gestures by each of us. We are trying to do our small part with Trump Tower Philadelphia.”