The 22,000-sq-ft St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery Welcoming and Information Center is currently under construction in Farmingdale, New York and is seeking LEED Silver certification.

Rendering courtesy of BBS Architects & Engineers

The Town of Babylon, which includes Farmingdale, requires all new public use buildings of more than 5,000 sq ft to comply with LEED requirement, according to Roger P. Smith, principal and lead designer for the design team BBS Architects & Engineers of New York.

The design team which also includes structural engineer Ysrael A. Seinuk of New York and landscape designer Greenman-Pedersen of Babylon, New York developed a design that both accommodated the sustainability requirements and surrounding landscape. The center’s one-story building features a shallow pitch roof and horizontal bands of clapboard siding and stone veneer. The façade features cultured limestone and granite.

The interiors include the 13,800-sq-ft ground floor features a central polished concrete lobby with a golden tone finish and house management and administrative offices, sales and visitor information staff, customer service and interment coordination departments, as well as a chapel that provides daily mass service. The 8,060-sq-ft colonnade level houses records storage, group function areas offices and utility rooms.

Sustainable exterior and base building materials include cementitious siding with high-recycled content and low emissivity, high efficiency windows. LEED-certified mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment and fixtures include an energy saving heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system; electronically-controlled, low-flow faucets and toilets; and waterless urinals. Required light levels were achieved with a reduced wattage per sq ft through extensive day-lighting and use of low-energy fixtures.

The surrounding five-acre site encompasses parking, circulation roads, and utility connections allowing for sustainable landscaping and water management techniques-such as the creation of rain gardens and planting low-maintenance, native grass species to be implemented.