#Offices inside empire state building windows#

To date, the Empire State Building has surpassed that goal by reducing energy use by more than 40%! The Empire State Building Trust is continuously exploring more energy saving features for the building and hopes to save an additional 40% energy use. The Empire State Building team’s energy modeling predicted an overall energy reduction of 38%. In our team’s final report, the primary motivation for the retrofit was that “The world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2050 and retrofitting commercial buildings is a critical component of the solution.” The report went on to say that “Early adopters can catalyze change by demonstrating that commercially attractive retrofits can lead to significant greenhouse gas reductions.” One of the key findings of the report is that the package of measures created for the Empire State Building will result in enhanced indoor environmental quality for tenants, including better lighting conditions that coordinate ambient and task lighting. This not only eliminated the need for maintenance staff to change color filters on the floodlights-an extremely dangerous task given the height and constant wind- but also decreased energy use, minimized sky glow, and allowed for more advanced color control. Controls provide flexibility in scenes during different times, seasons, and weather conditions.Ĭlanton & Associates also developed guidelines for the replacement of the exterior tower floodlights with color changing LED lights.

#Offices inside empire state building windows#

Clanton & Associates redesigned all of the lighting to be aimed away from the windows with low glare, low energy, LED lighting, with added color for a visitor area experiential lighting. This lighting reflected off the windows, making it hard to see outside. Dimming controls allow tenants to vary the intensity of lighting throughout the office, including conference rooms, and in their own personalized areas.Īn additional improvement made by the lighting team focused on the existing public observation deck lighting. Each tenant was given flexible LED task lighting to supplement the ambient light and to provide a more personalized work environment. Accent lighting on the walls was designed to highlight art work in hallways and conference rooms. Indirect pendant lighting was installed to fill the spaces with uniform low glare ambient lighting which fills in the ceiling surfaces and highlights the original architecture. Clanton & Associates was selected to be a member of the Rocky Mountain Institute group that co-facilitated the design process.Ĭlanton’s primary focus was to improve daylighting by replacing all the windows and removing the dropped lay-in ceilings. In 2008, the Clinton Climate Initiative worked with Anthony Malkin, CEO of the realty trust that owns the Empire State Building, to assemble a team of experts including the Rocky Mountain Institute, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Johnson Controls to explore a “deep energy retrofit” for the Empire State Building.