Affordable Passive House in NYC – Case Studies on Sustainability and Equity

Shefali Sanghvi
Proposal Status
Ready for Committee Review
Username
Shefali Sanghvi
Proposer First Name
Shefali
Proposer Email
ssanghvi@dattner.com
Proposer Last Name
Sanghvi
Proposer Phone
(917) 281-1683
Proposer Job Title
Associate
Proposed Session Description
Dattner Architects will present a progress report on 3 affordable multifamily buildings in various stages of construction. Project teams will share lessons learned from each building which have informed the firm’s ability to deliver high-performance housing within the constraints of limited construction budgets and difficult sites. 425 Grand Concourse is the largest Passive House project planned for North America to date. This new mixed-use and mixed-income development will create 277 units of affordable housing. The two-story base will house a medical facility, supermarket, community support space, and a new student services center for CUNY Hostos. Chestnut Commons is a 14-story building is being designed to Passive House standards and in compliance with NYC Active Design Guidelines and will exceed NYC Energy Code and Enterprise Green Community requirements. One of the first developments stemming from the East New York Neighborhood Plan, Chestnut Commons will provide affordable housing for formerly homeless and low-income households and integrates a satellite Community College campus, a food manufacturing incubator that will provide job training, and a credit union. Vital Brookdale will create 160 affordable housing units and approximately 25,000 sf of health-focused community space in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project will be comprised of 32 studios, 63 one-bedroom, 59 two-bedroom, and six three-bedroom units. 133 of the apartments will be reserved for households earning between 30- 60% of area median income (AMI) and 26 households earning 80% AMI.
Why is this session important?
The session is intended to discuss the intersection of affordability and sustainability and explore how passive house standards can be within reach for affordable housing project with manageable impacts on scope. Much of the conversation about sustainable developments have centered around market rate and luxury housing developments, but have failed to address the potential in using these strategies to improve the performance of affordable developments and the quality of life of predominantly minority communities. This session aims to illuminate the viability of current Passive House strategies in affordable development models and talks about the complexities of creating cutting edge sustainable developments in under-resourced neighborhoods and with limited construction budgets.

Comments

Nick Shaw Fri, 03/26/2021 - 10:56 am

- Maybe - I think this would be a great session to pre-record so there can be walkthroughs of the projects under construction. Maybe a little interview with the building owner on how they landed on this approach and then some overview of construction details. I'd like to hear more about the funding of this project. 

Michaela Boren… Wed, 04/07/2021 - 3:20 am

Round 1: Yes
• Very important example on sustainability and equity
• Do like the idea of adding the perspective of the owner and maybe someone from the community – more points of view
• Improvements – i.e. would like to know the funding challenges and how it was overcame; how can projects like these be replicated

Susan Farber Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:22 pm

ROUND 1 DISCUSSION: Another passive house case study. How many do we want? Thoughfully completed. Would love to have it pre-recorded and have a walk through as being built. Have team discuss decsion making while walk through. Commercial space interesing. Recording tour would make it distinguishable. Might have traction with equity perspective. Maybe include that perspective. Community point of view.

Nick Shaw Thu, 04/22/2021 - 3:43 pm

Yes - it could head a few different directions and it'd be best to hone in on a few things and go deep instead of staying shallow on a variety of topics. Precorded presentation would work well -- they could show the drawing detail and then how it looks on site and discuss why changes were made. Also prerecording would be easier for interviewing consultants, trades, and building owners. Uncertain about logisitics for film editing. They'd like to share funding and discuss, but would need to get approval from building teams. Two of the projects do have ground floor store fronts that are airtight, but not PH levels and then medical and other facilities are PH cert as well as the residential units. Projects are going for PHIUS. Two projects are fairly well completed (in terms of envelope), but not occupied. One is mid construction for envelope. If conference is 100% in person then prerecorded presentation followed by Q&A feels weird, but doubt it'll be 100% in person.Pre-recorded session followed by live Q&A feels like best approach for this. Need to figure out logistics for prerecording it thoughShefali has a great energy and I think would be a fantastic speaker for the presentaiton -- others were great as well

Susan Farber Mon, 05/24/2021 - 12:09 pm

ROUND 2 DISCUSSION: All speakers from same firm. From meeting with them, it could go in different directions. Nick suggested deep rather than broad. Bring stories that highlight successes and failures. Different types of zoned use for air barrier. Maybe do as a pre-recorded session where they could record onsitesand talk to building owners and contractors. Would like to discuss finance and budget; however would need to get approval from building owners. Don't know who would do pre-recording? Nick is ok curating if pre-recording of site is not involved, not in his wheelhouse to manage recording. Adam knows the presentation and speakers. Passive House presentations can start to be "we have seen this before." However, Nick liked the focus on the air barrier and Shivali is good speaker. However, tons of spray foam! May be tough to pull off the onsite video. Maybe in-house video capabilities at Dattner? But people may be resistant to having cameras onsite. If they can pull the onsite recording, then strong, but otherwise questionable.

Diversity and Inclusiveness
Our proposed talk deals with a number of themes that encompass equity, diversity, and inclusion. Below are a sample of key themes we’d touch upon during our session: Equity – Increasing the affordable housing stock is inherently connected to equity. The additional community resources we provide spaces for within this development also tackle overarching issues of equity and access to healthcare, education and cultural spaces. Diversity – our diverse panel of speakers will discuss the community engagement efforts in working in working with a wide variety of users and community groups that represent the diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods the buildings inhabit. Our diverse panels of speakers will also be discussing the community engagement efforts undertaken by these projects, as well as the process of working with the variety of end users that will be working and living in these developments. Inclusion – In NYC, Passive House has been seen as a marketing tool, and out of reach for affordable housing; our session aims to bridge that gap and discuss how affordable housing can be developed to Passive House standards.
Learning Objectives
Gain understanding of how affordable high-density multi-family housing planned in urban environments – as building typology - creates opportunities to design to Passive House Standards.
Gain knowledge distinguishing between established Passive House exterior envelope detailing and project-specific design challenges – such as for reducing thermal bridging at windows, sunshades, roofing penetrations, foundation transitions, and equipment supports.
Gain understanding of challenges and lessons learned for successful construction administration of a Passive House multi-family building and addressing unforeseen field conditions.
Understand the challenges to meet Passive House requirements based on buildings with mixed uses, heights, and footprint configurations.
Has this session been presented before?
Yes
When and Where?
We presented Passive House case studies for the NYPH Architect’s Focus in July 2020, but this is not a duplication of that presentation.

NYC 2021 Areas of Focus

Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Debate between opposing viewpoints
Recommended Length
90-minute session

Strongest Content Connection - NYC 2021

Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
While our proposal conforms to the suggested 3-speakers per 90-minute presentation, we believe that our speaking proposal/presentation could be strengthened by including the perspective of the Owner as an additional speaker.
Reviewer 1
Boren, Michaela
Reviewer 2
Shaw, Nick
Proposal #
148
Committee Decision
Being Considered

Presenters