Solar One Environmental Education Center

“The opening of the Solar One Environmental Education Center is the culmination of 20 years of planning, learning, and building with one overriding goal in mind: to teach NYC’s youth the power of renewable energy, sustainability, and resiliency. Now more than ever, it is our mission to ensure that future generations have the resources and knowledge to combat climate change and preserve our precious Earth.”

“The Solar One Environmental Education Center may not be our largest project, but it is certainly one of our longest running. When we sat down for the very first brainstorming session - on what was then simply referred to as ‘Solar One’ in our office - I was recovering from my 40th birthday celebration. Now, I am comfortably in my 50s, and what started as ‘Solar One’ has - after a decade of work - become better known as ‘Solar Ten’ around the firm. For me, it’s been a companion for the past 10 years - a decade-long dialogue with the city, with my colleagues, and with the future. The center itself is a compact pavilion, but it stands as the exclamation point at the north end of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project - what we’ve nicknamed the ‘Dryline’ - that will help keep New York safe when the next Hurricane Sandy comes. Nested on the berm designed to protect Manhattan, the center is both symbolic and practical: it is built to withstand flooding and integrates solar energy and battery storage, ensuring it can operate even in an emergency. I can’t imagine a more meaningful place to inspire future generations to learn about renewable energy and climate action: where the old New York, a gas station on the highway, meets the new New York, a manmade coastal landscape the makes the waterfront more resilient, more sustainable, and more enjoyable for the people that live by it.”

"The Solar One Environmental Education Center stands as more than a building, it’s a classroom for the city - a meeting point where architecture, nature, and community converge. Clad in timber and photovoltaic panels, the center's angled roof acts as both a renewable energy source and a teaching tool. Inside, flexible classrooms support an immersive, hands-on learning experience for New Yorkers from an elevated position overlooking the East River and Stuyvesant Cove Park. Made possible by the vision and dedication of many, our hope is that this center inspires curiosity, responsibility, and imagination - empowering generations to shape a more sustainable and resilient future together. BIG is honored to bring the project to life as both a model for future urban resilience and a home for curiosity, community, and responsibility."