5 Minutes With The Pearl House Team
Pearl House, Awards for Excellence in Adaptive Reuse Finalist
Peter Wang, Design Principal, Gensler
Who has had the greatest influence on your career and what was the best advice he or she gave you?
There is a group of key leaders at Gensler who have mentored, challenged, and given me opportunities beyond my greatest expectations. These individuals, both highly talented and nurturing, have had the greatest influence on who I am as a professional and person. I strive every day to live by their example and pay forward all they have given me to the next generation of leadership at our firm. I would say that the advice from these leaders has always been consistent and with a single voice – we deeply care about our people-first, family culture, we are passionately client-focused and we believe in the power of design to create a better world.
As a ULI NY Awards nominee, what makes you most proud of your project?
Pearl House is a model for adaptive reuse, repurposing a 525,000-square-foot office tower into 588 residential units, saving an estimated 20,000 tons of carbon emissions—excluding even greater savings from preserved embodied carbon and avoided landfill waste. We also drastically improved the building’s performance by replacing its original single-pane glass with operable, double-pane window units and adding an insulated exterior overclad metal spandrel with insulation added on the interior side, significantly increasing thermal efficiency. Thanks to the city’s “Zone Green” program, these envelope upgrades also unlocked additional floor area for the roof overbuild. Finally, converting to a decentralized heating and cooling system reduced operational carbon and allowed us to add four full floors of tenant units within former mechanical spaces. Together, these strategies helped Pearl House exceed NYC Local Law 97’s 2030 emissions targets—today.
Ultimately, Pearl House is a place we want people to live in and enjoy. Leasing began just over a year ago, and the building is now nearly fully leased—a clear reflection not only of strong market demand, but of the quality and care that went into its transformation. We’re proud to have created a live-work environment that contributes to the vibrancy of this part of New York City.
What excites you about the future of New York City?
There are opportunities for more conversions of all types, especially through government-led policies aimed at increasing opportunities for affordable housing like City of Yes. Conversions create a path for mixed-use development to realize more vibrant and livable neighborhoods. We should think beyond traditional applications for conversions and consider partial conversions, as well as conversion possibilities for mixed-use buildings and neighborhoods—such as buildings that include schools and healthcare facilities, greenspace, senior living, commercial spaces, restaurants, and cultural spaces. These will better serve the diverse needs of residents, workers, and visitors, while also creating a richer and more vibrant city from top to bottom.