Green Living, Downtown

Riverhouse, a 264-unit condominium in Battery Park City being marketed as the latest in environmental sustainability, has amenities like photovoltaic cells that generate solar power and an ultraviolet light that kills bacteria in the pool, reducing the need for chlorine. It also has a 2,000-square-foot model apartment with an unusually ornate take on green design. Thom Filicia, the designer, who stars in “Dress My Nest,” a show about fashion-inspired interiors, maintains that “the green look doesn’t have to be a green minimalist look.” The space he created for a fictional pair of empty-nesters relocating from the Upper East Side is filled with tribal art objects and patterned textiles — all antiques, recycled materials or sustainable materials, he said. The bedroom has a bamboo mattress, a throw pillow filled with kapok and a bamboo knitted throw that he said feels like cashmere. “When people hear the word kapok or the word bamboo, they don’t think of a luxurious feel, but the way things are woven and spun now, bamboo can go from the floor to the bed,” he said.