The new Staten Island Courthouse and 660-car parking structure are located on the site of the nineteenth-century New York Marine Hospital, an immigrant quarantine facility. In accordance with preservation standards, the new Memorial Green space that fronts the facility is built above the hospital cemetery to ensure that its interred remains are left undisturbed. The raised green created an opportunity for monumental stairs along the diagonal paths that lead to the building`s entry plaza. The hilltop location overlooking New York Harbor also includes a Percent for Art component, The Passage: A Moving Memorial, by Mary Miss Studios that comprises 16 “Art Columns” on the east side of the Memorial Green. The $220M LEED Silver project includes native plantings, and the parking structure is clad with vertical planting screens featuring five vine species to soften the facade. Also contributing to the LEED rating is the capture of stormwater from the courthouse and Memorial Green. The captured water irrigates the plantings and lawn on the elevated green. Low maintenance landscaping also covers approximately 50 percent of the roof, helps cool the building, absorbs rainfall, and provides an attractive view for people within the courthouse.
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