First Certified Passive House in Manhattan

LEED for Homes meets Passive House this September, as Manhattan welcomes its very first Certified Passive House. Passive Houses optimize indoor air quality, offer extreme thermal comfort to occupants, and use up to 90% less energy than a conventional building.

The meticulously redesigned Upper West Side townhouse is not only certified by the Passive House Academy, but is also certified LEED for Homes Platinum. It is one of the first buildings to ever achieve dual Passive House and LEED Platinum certification.

The historic landmark building offers the most advanced energy performance and thermal comfort while still maintaining a beautifully-preserved landmark. Because we were able to eliminate bulky ductwork and radiators, the design was highly flexible and customizable.

This project was instrumental in developing our Passive House framework. Insights from industry players like Passive House Consultant Sam McAfee and High Performance Building Specialist Kevin Brennan have helped us create a replicable Passive House formula. This process is applicable to any building type at any budget, always yielding breathtaking, high efficiency, healthy, and comfortable buildings which provide ultimate design freedom and lots of room for architectural creativity.

We'd like to thank everyone on the team for their creativity and hard work.

General Contractor: Taffera Fine Building & Finishes

Mechanical Engineer: Rosini Engineering

Structural Engineer: D'Huy Engineering, Inc.

Passive House Consultant: Sam McAfee

High Performance Building Specialist: Kevin Brennan

Passive House Certifier and Technical Advisor: Passive House Academy

LEED Consultant: Steven Winter Associates LLC

Interior Designer: BIA Interiors LLC

Air Sealing: AEA Inc.

Photography: Peter Peirce