Sustainable Design

Passive House

Buildings are designed with a highly insulated envelope that eliminates thermal bridging – areas where heat can escape more easily, such as at corners or edges.

Energy Efficient

External Insulation

Meticulous attention was paid to ensure continuous insulation and airtightness throughout the entire building envelope. This means addressing every intersection and corner to prevent thermal breaks, where heat can escape or enter the building. When insulating from the inside, challenges arise due to numerous corners and interruptions, such as floor constructions, leading to potential breaks in insulation. Even small breaks can result in significant heat loss, ranging from 20-30% of heating or cooling energy. As an extreme example, balconies can act as heat exchangers, causing up to 50% of heat loss in buildings with protruding concrete elements.

To mitigate these issues, focusing on external insulation offers a more straightforward solution. By insulating from the outside, it becomes easier to maintain continuity across all floors and seal any potential thermal bridges. Additionally, insulating around windows, especially over the frames, helps strengthen the building's overall insulation performance, as window frames often represent weak points in the thermal envelope.

Windows and doors are designed with advanced glazing and framing systems to minimize heat transfer while still allowing for natural light and ventilation.

Triple Paned Windows

The Passive House certified triple glazed windows are designed to keep you cozy year-round.

In winter, they keep the cold out so you can snuggle up by the window without feeling a chill.

And in summer, they block out excess heat, keeping the apartment pleasantly cool.

The windows are engineered with a shading coefficient that strikes a perfect balance: while blocking some heat during summer, they also allow sunlight to penetrate and warm up the apartment in winter.

It's all about passive heating and cooling, ensuring comfort without the need for extra energy.

The windows also provide better sound protection for a quieter indoor environment (U-0.20, SHGC-0.30)

A mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery is installed to provide a continuous supply of fresh air while recovering the heat from the outgoing stale air. This improves indoor air quality without significant heat loss.

Energy Recovery Ventilation

In your typical rowhouse, a huge chunk of energy – anywhere from 75% to 95% – is lost due to air leakage and heat escaping. But not here. We've crafted an airtight space that's cozy and efficient. To keep things fresh without letting moisture build up, we've installed an Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) system.

This system works by constantly circulating air, pushing out the old stuff from the hallways and bathrooms, and intaking the new fresh air to the living and bedrooms. In winter, the air leaving is warm, while the fresh air coming in is chilly. So, we've got this clever ERV that acts like a heat exchanger. It takes the warmth from the outgoing air and gives it to the incoming air. That way, the air you breathe inside is always just right – around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. No need to crack open a window, though you can if you want.

Aside from enhancing comfort, this system offers significant health benefits, particularly in times like the COVID-19 pandemic, by reducing the spread of illnesses. The air passing through the building is filtered, with filters typically replaced every 6 months to maintain optimal air quality.

To prevent cross-contamination, particularly in areas like the kitchen, where cooking or smoking can occur, we've ensured that the ERV system remains separate from other exhaust sources. This minimizes the risk of shared air and maintains air quality standards.

Fresh air continuously circulates into the living room at ~25 cfm, and bedrooms at 5-10 cfm.

The building envelope is made airtight, preventing uncontrolled air leakage and drafts, which helps maintain a consistent indoor temperature and reduces energy demand for heating and cooling.

Your typical rowhouse will lose 75%-95% of its energy through air leakage and heat rising in the building. Here, a continuous air sealing membrane exists around the entire exterior envelope, taped at windows and doors, reducing energy loss.

The air tightness, as assessed through a blower door test, exceeds code standards by approximately 50 times and fulfills the requirements for passive house certification.

Detailed planning and construction techniques are employed to ensure there are minimal thermal bridges in the building envelope, preventing heat from escaping through paths of least resistance.

A thermal bridge is like a road for heating energy, in which warmth can travel right through your walls. As a matter of fact, most of our houses have thermal highways in our walls, where heat can easily travel to the outside.

In Passive House design, we prevent thermal breaks by providing high density insulation to break (minimize) heat loss.

Solar Powered Heating
and Cooling

Solar Photovoltaic Array

13.77 KW to offset the building's Heating Cooling VRF Heat Pump utility costs.

The roof is extended with an overhang to get the maximum amount of solar panels possible.

This solar array is estimated to provide 100% of electric power for the heating and cooling of all apartments, public hall lighting, and central ventilation system!

For a building this size, we can't quite be net zero, but around 50% of our energy load is taken care of by the solar panel system.

Central VRF Heat Pump Heating and Cooling System

In our building, each apartment has its own heating and cooling system, powered by a super-efficient heat pump. These systems are ducted to every room and usually sit above the kitchen. They share a grill with our ERV system.

The heat pump is a game-changer. It's the best way to heat with electricity, way more efficient than old-school resistance heating. And here's the best part: no fossil fuels anywhere in our building!

But here's where it gets really cool. We've got three central units that handle all the heating and cooling for the whole building. The units are located up on the roof and are connected to the solar panels.

With this setup, we harness ample solar energy to fulfill all the building's heating and cooling requirements, showcasing our dedication to sustainable and eco-friendly practices.

Other Projects

R-951

The R951 Rowhouse is the first certified Passive House, certified Net Zero capable building in New York City