Shades of James Bond adventures and Egyptian pyramid builders, to say nothing of the ¿War of the Worlds,¿ the heliostats have landed!
Three of them were installed May 31 on the roof of a new 23-story building known as Verdesian now under construction at Murray Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City. The heliostats are circular mirrors, each about 8 feet in diameter, that are computer-controlled and motorized to track the sun and redirect its light.
In this case, the mirrors are intended to better illuminate the yet unbuilt Teardrop Park South in the horseshoe-shaped courtyard of a building that is scheduled for construction next year and that will completely shield the park from sun for much of the year.
The mirrors, which are made by Bomin Solar Gmbh (http://www.bomin-solar.de/English/heliostats.htm), a German company, were installed by the Battery Park City Authority at a cost of about $355,000. They are still under wraps, in clear plastic. Community Board 1 voted 33 to 1 May 17, 2005 to permit use of heliostats and wind turbines on the building.
An Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd. Article by Cahal Milmo March 28, 2005 reported that the west Austrian village of Rattenberg is deploying similar heliostats to minimize its ¿all-pervading seasonal gloom¿ caused by being in the shadow of a mountain.
Could this be the end of dark alleys and air-shafts?
Three of them were installed May 31 on the roof of a new 23-story building known as Verdesian now under construction at Murray Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City. The heliostats are circular mirrors, each about 8 feet in diameter, that are computer-controlled and motorized to track the sun and redirect its light.
In this case, the mirrors are intended to better illuminate the yet unbuilt Teardrop Park South in the horseshoe-shaped courtyard of a building that is scheduled for construction next year and that will completely shield the park from sun for much of the year.
The mirrors, which are made by Bomin Solar Gmbh (http://www.bomin-solar.de/English/heliostats.htm), a German company, were installed by the Battery Park City Authority at a cost of about $355,000. They are still under wraps, in clear plastic. Community Board 1 voted 33 to 1 May 17, 2005 to permit use of heliostats and wind turbines on the building.
An Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd. Article by Cahal Milmo March 28, 2005 reported that the west Austrian village of Rattenberg is deploying similar heliostats to minimize its ¿all-pervading seasonal gloom¿ caused by being in the shadow of a mountain.
Could this be the end of dark alleys and air-shafts?
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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