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WNYC has an in-depth profile of what went into making 174 Grand Street in Williamsburg the first completed building in the city constructed to energy-efficient Passive House standards. The apartment building has a seven-inch layer of foam insulation that designers from the firm Loadingdock5 determined was necessary by using “special software that starts with climate data from New York City—the temperature highs and lows and humidity levels—[that let] them adjust the insulation and size of the heating unit until they hit the magic mark.” Heating costs for the upper duplex in the building are expected to only run a few hundred dollars for the entire winter due to the airtight technology. The article also quotes architect Ken Levinson as saying rgar Brooklyn has the highest number of Passive House buildings under construction in the entire U.S.; last month we took a look at a Brooklyn Heights brownstone that’s in the process of being renovated to Passive House standards.
A Trend-Setting Building With a Small Carbon Footprint [WNYC]
174 Grand [Loadingdock5]
Images from Loadingdock5.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Minard –

    If you (or anyone else) is still reading this thread:
    I think we should continue this debate on the next PH posting. I think its a debate worth having. Preservation is obviously a huge part of practice in NYC, and needs to be addressed. Energy Efficiency is also hugely important. Can’t the two be married? Perhaps a discussion for another day.

    I just wanted to make a point about bias:

    – I think its fair to point out some degree of bias (though PH is a very small part of my firm’s business), but I would point out that I’m hardly equivalent to a salesman of windows or siding. I’m not pushing a product because that’s what I’m paid to do. I’m a licensed professional, dealing almost entirely in facts (colored by my own professional opinion on user comfort)and building science. I think there’s a big difference.

  2. young archi, fair enough. You obviously make a portion of your living designing these houses and so you understand that folks should not take your endorsement as unbiased opinion. Aluminum siding and window salesmen have been giving people the shpiel about energy savings for years. Preservationists push back. Its what we do. I have no problem with new houses like this one, I guess I didn’t make that clear. To each their own. but I am bothered when perfectly nice, environmentally friendly, historic houses are denatured in order to fit the straitjacket of design criteria meant for new construction.