Project Spotlight: Casa Celina, Magnusson Architecture and Planning PC

Location: Bronx, NY Client: JASA, Xenolith, Kretchmer Companies Type: Affordable Senior Housing Size: 136,000 SF Units: 205 The winning RFP proposal for NYCHA’s Sotomayor Houses in the Soundview section of the Bronx (and named in honor of the Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s mother, Celina Baez) this 16-story building will offer affordable senior units. Approximately 3,350 square feet of community space will be accessible to NYCHA residents and the surrounding community. The…


The early bird gets the discount !

Take the opportunity and book your conference ticket by today before the summer break for an attractive early bird price. ONE ticket for ALL! Your ticket -> to all live events of the 25th International Passive House Conference in the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal and ONLINE -> to the recordings of all lectures and excursions until the end of September -> to the Passive House exhibition ONLINE from 1 September and on-site during the…


Exhibition Open Call – Built Environment Virtual Pavilion for COP26

Overview COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, is a critical moment in the fight against climate change. It takes place in November 2021, and the eyes of the world will be on the host city, Glasgow. Covid-19 travel restrictions may reduce the number of delegates able to attend COP in person. To mitigate risk and enable maximum participation in COP26, regardless of the status of the physical Conference, an unprecedented…


Recording | Town Hall – Climate Mobilization – ACT NOW

   NYPH invites you to reimagine the future of New York City buildings at a Passive House Town Hall. The event will include presentations and panel discussions featuring key policy-makers, designers, and developers, as well as interactive sessions addressing the urgency of Local Law 97. The Town Hall will explore Passive House as a strategy for reaching the landmark legislation’s efficiency mandates while making the city more equitable and…


New York City’s first all-electric tower

By: Michael Young 8:00 am on July 20, 2021 A new series of street-level and aerial renderings have been revealed for The Alloy Block, a two-tower mixed-use development designed and developed by Alloy Development and located at 80 Flatbush Avenue and 100 Flatbush Avenue on the border of Downtown Brooklyn and Boerum Hill. Renderings depict the 482-foot-tall 100 Flatbush Avenue, a 44-story edifice being built in phase one at the corner of Flatbush Avenue…


425 Grand Concourse Will Debut as the Country’s Largest Passive House High-Rise, in Mott Haven, The Bronx

By: Sebastian Morris 7:00 am on July 19, 2021  The Bronx will soon be home to the country’s largest Passive House high-rise development. Located at 425 Grand Concourse in Mott Haven, the 26-story building will create 277 units of affordable housing, a neighborhood supermarket, a community health center, a cultural center, and a 30,000-square-foot educational facility for CUNY’s Hostos Community College. Read More >


Strategic Tax Credits to Decarbonize Buildings

Dear Chairman Wyden, Chairman Neal, Ranking Member Crapo, Ranking Member Brady, Thank you for your leadership and hard work to develop and advance the Clean Energy for America Act and the GREEN Act. Utilizing tax credits to jump start the decarbonization of our economy has a proven track record. However the current provisions in the tax code and modifications discussed to date simply do not incentivize the scale of energy…


A Comprehensive Suite of Tax Credits for Building Decarbonization:

If you can support this effort, please sign this letter to Congress by the end of the week and encourage others to do so as well.  We’d like to get this proposal to Congress before the July Fourth recess. More details on this suite of tax credits are below. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like to discuss these tax credits further. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLEwpVy35it-lAp80n8S2fMIyHg2g1GxWio-02s0I5REWhQw/viewform A Comprehensive Suite of Tax Credits…


Passive house is an enclosure first “passive” approach

Passive house is an enclosure first “passive” approach It encompasses all aspects of high energy performance, sustainability, and resiliency that can be applied to all types of buildings, in all types of climates. While the adoption of the Passive House standard across Canada and the United States has not been easy, its uptake is beginning to accelerate. In the below policy guide developed by the North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)…


Emerging Local Legal Pathways for Building Electrification: Air Pollution and Land Use Regulation in New York City & Brookline, Massachusetts

By Amy Turner This week marked significant growth for the building electrification movement, as the legal pathways in use by local governments to catalyze electrification doubled in number. Previously, local governments had pursued building electrification through building code provisions requiring or incentivizing electrification expressly, or through affirmative “bans” on natural gas hookups to new and renovated buildings. More than 40 local governments in California have taken the former approach, in…



How Windows Make (or Break) Wall Performance, Illustrated

The thermal performance of your building’s walls is only as strong as the weakest link, and windows are too often that weak link. Even if you’ve gone to great lengths to build a super-insulated high performance wall, if you poke that wall full of holes, then plug those walls with mediocre windows, you will get a poorly-performing wall. Bad windows will ruin the best wall assemblies. Conversely, good windows can…