Meet Richard Cook, architect

Richard Cook, with Cook + Fox Architects, is devoted to creating environmentally responsible green buildings. The billion dollar project he is working on now will be one of the world’s greenest structures. Cook talks to TFK about the project, as well as his favorite building and what led him to architecture

TFK:In your words, what is architecture? And what led you to it?

Cook:
Architecture is the art of building buildings. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be an architect. I have no memory of a time where I didn’t want to design buildings.

My dad was a small business consultant…I was in about 5th grade, I had the day off and he took me with him and he asked me what I thought I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to build stuff, but I didn’t really know what it was, so he wanted me to see a range of things you can do.

So we went to the bank… I figured let’s go where the money is. I wanted to go in the safe, but there weren’t piles of money that you could run around in, just this big stainless boring thing. So it seemed like going where the money was didn’t seem to make much sense.

So we went to the ice cream parlor I had never been behind the scenes at an ice cream parlor to see how they made soft ice cream with these big containers and you poured stuff in. I remember really vividly: you stuck to the floor, it was really hot, and when we walked out the backdoor, there was the dumpster and swarms of bees. I was like YEESH! And from that moment on, I never worked at anything in food service.

And then we went down to Green Island… in this old rickety loft. It was a sign maker. In the back he had this easel that went the whole width of the building. It had newsprint on it and paintbrushes…and he would paint the signs that used to be in store market windows… He had this huge stick and you would draw the line and draw 69 cents. I was so impressed that that’s what this guy did. I can remember walking out with my father; I can do that for a living? And he said, you can do anything you want as long as you decide to be good at it and you love it.

I decided at that moment that I wanted to do something where you start with a clean slate and make things. I could show up at work and make something out of nothing.

And I was told as a kid that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

TFK:
Who were your role models, in architecture or otherwise?

Cook:
Architecture, as an art is very tricky because there is a tremendous amount of ego involved. So the models for genius tend to be incredibly egocentric. As an architect? Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe. These were amazing architects but not necessarily people that I’d want to follow. So that’s a real dilemma, in a field where you have to say, “You’re the genius,” “Your ideas are right.” Frankly I’ve had a really hard time finding a role model as an architect.

My partner Bob Fox was my mentor and friend and now partner. So, as a way to be an architect, I admired Bob.

TFK:
What is your favorite structure in the US and why?

Cook:
Chrysler Building. It’s so optimistic. It changes its mood with the sun and the sky. It’s never the same building…I think it’s the quintessential skyscraper. I love the fact that you put your eye on the point at which it ends and the sky starts. Amazing building. It has personality. It was a joyful expression of the machine age. There’s hubcaps from the car, there’s references to the people involved. And it was very personal.

TFK:
Is Cook + Fox regarded as a “green architecture firm,” and what makes it so?

Cook:
We’re blessed with the ability where the client is interested in exploring the environmental strategy and impact of their project. We even formed another company, Terrapin, to do green strategic thinking and planning. We are architects, and there is other good we can do. The world is changing so fast. The awareness of climate change and global warming is happening so fast, that we couldn’t keep up and we wanted to be able to help so we formed this other company.

TFK:
Tell me about the Bank of America at One Bryant Park. How did that project come to be?

Cook:
Durst family had been assembling the site over a period of 4 decades. The Bank of America was looking for headquarters in the best possible location. The Durst’s were committed to exploring the greenest possible skyscraper on that site, and the Bank of America became partners in that effort.

We had the blessing of having the Durst’s say we did 4 Times Square, it was known as the greenest skyscraper in America. Start there, and see how far you can go. That was a remarkable opportunity.

TFK:
Let’s talk about some of the “green” features of the buildings. You have a gigantic icemaker for the building. What is that all about?

Cook:
There are 44 enormous ice tanks in the basement. Each one of them is the size of a large bedroom. And each freezes solid as a giant ice cube. So we’re basically going to freeze 44 cylindrical ice cubes every night and then melt them during the day to provide air conditioning.

TFK:
What is rainwater harvesting and how does it work on a huge building like this?

Cook:
In New York City, we get 4 feet of rain a year. Normally all that water gets wasted by going into the storm sewer system. Not only that, when we have a rain, it mixes with the sewer and we pump raw sewage right out into the river. Very bad idea. So what can we do?

We can collect all of the rainwater that falls on the building… We’re going to store it in places in the building… We’re going to flush toilets with the rainwater. And use it for cooling tower makeup. Buildings are cooled by something called evaporative cooling towers, the same way a person does. A person sweats. The sweat evaporates and you feel cooler. Why do you sweat when you’re hot? Your body is trying to cool off. It’s trying to use evaporative cooling. A skyscraper does the same thing. A giant skyscraper sweats, and by evaporating the water, it cools off the building, just like a person.

TFK:
Any other interesting features?

Cook:
Waterless urinals…That one gesture alone will save more than 3 million gallons of water a year! In NY we use drinking water and we flush toilets with pure drinking water. Most of the world views drinking water as a precious resource. The vast majority of people on Earth view drinking water as a valuable resource. Americans think of it as water. By going to waterless urinals and saving that water, we’re saving 3 million gallons of water… that’s 22 million half-liter bottles.

TFK:
I was surprised to hear that Architect Bill McDonough had never designed a home for himself. Have you?

Cook:
I’ve renovated a house, the house that I live in…Often, because (architects) are so busy working on projects, there is no emotional energy left for your own house.

TFK:
Have you read McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle? What do you think of the zero waste concept?

Cook:
Large picture, conceptually, he’s completely on the right track and led the charge for many of us. His (and Michael Braungart’s) writings were remarkably important in thinking about a larger picture. Not how do you do a green building, but how do you go upstream. And that’s where his writing, and his partner- their writings- are extremely important in what I call upstreaming. When you talk about how to green a house…that’s a low level thought process. But how do you fundamentally change the way we do things? And change the environmental impact of the way we live. That’s where Bill and Braungart have made a huge thing. This is not about let’s build a building that uses a little less energy, but how do we change the way we think about the things we make, how we use them and what happens to them when we’re done…It was a great articulation of that thought process.

We’re really interested in buildings that do good, so as opposed to let’s build building that are less bad. We’re extremely interested in buildings that could do good. In some ways it’s like a hybrid car. It’s not good; it’s just less bad.

TFK:
First, have you read Ayn Rand’s book, The Fountainhead? In working with your client the Durst Organization, when it comes to the Bank of America at One Bryant Park building, can you do anything you want?

Cook:
Yes. A project like this is a remarkable collaboration of people. The public image of the architect as lone heroic figure, the Howard Roark, does not exist. Never was true, is not true. It goes back to that egocentricity thing… it’s the way people choose to want to believe that it exists. But the fact is that it’s a remarkable collaboration.

Angelique LeDoux
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