Using the Empire State Building as the ‘poster child,’ Aliotta says many older buildings like it will be repositioned in order to stay up-to-date and reduce energy output.

“Here’s a building that is obviously iconic in New York City that became somewhat obsolete for office space,” he says. “It was dentists, doctors and lawyers, and it really wasn’t the type of office space that tenants were looking for,” he explains. After a $550 million repositioning and achieving LEED Gold status by the United States Green Building Council, the building’s ownership—the Malkin family—developed a groundbreaking initiative and model working with the Clinton Climate Initiative and Rocky Mountain Institute for energy efficiency and retrofits for occupied commercial office buildings.

“They basically made it extremely more energy-efficient and they improved the building immensely,” he says. “They’ve now gained different tenants.”

The retrofitting of older buildings also ties in with city policy. As a compliment to the city’s 30-year visioning plan, plaNYC, the New York City Department of City Planning has launched “Zone Green,” an initiative which aims to improve over one million buildings with energy efficient features, which cost $15 billion per year to power and heat, and account for 80% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“In New York City because it is sustainable in the sense that we are so dense, but on the other hand, the buildings account for about 85% of energy use,” says Margaret O'Donoghue Castillo, principal at Helpern Architects, PC and the 2011 chapter president of AIA NY. “If you tackle the buildings, their initiative to tackle existing buildings is very appropriate.”

Since February 2010, both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convened the city’s Green Codes Task Force to examine how to mitigate the impact of green building construction and renovation. At this point, 29 of the council’s 111 ‘green’ recommendations have been adopted and incorporated into the city’s building code and laws – and eight more are currently in the pipeline.

Castillo says "if you put the money and invest in better buildings that actually will cover the life of the building," there is a less likely chance they will be razed. “We are constantly doing adaptive re-use, because it also has embodied the energy – it took a lot of energy to make the building,” she says.

In addition to AIA’s five subcommittees, a new area of focus—risk & recovery—will also focus on storm preparedness, natural disasters and emergency planning. At a panel called “Rising Tides 2080” earlier this year, Aliotta says the panelists and attendees addressed temperature changes and how it effects the five boroughs.

“In theory, if global warming continues, and we had a professor from Columbia who was researching all this, a good portion of our waterfront will be underwater,” he said. “And that certainly is something that needs to be discussed. These are all very real and serious things. The idea this committee is looking at ways to explore these issues and find a way to mitigate it.”

Another focus, he says, is engaging young professionals in civic life.

“It’s about mentorship,” he says. “2080 is a long time from now, but looking at the future of the city and looking at all these issues, this is what we need to do."