Uptown is getting its second residential building to meet Passive House standards at 577 West 161st Street. Just last year, Synapse Development Group with its partner Taurus Investment Holdings opened Perch Harlem, Manhattan's first rental building constructed to meet the energy efficient treatment. Now just a few blocks north in Washington Heights, Rupa Mehta’s PM Architecture (PMA) with Rohan Developments LLC is building a 6-story Passive House that will accommodate 20 apartments and outdoor recreational spaces.
The building is slated for completion by year’s end and presents a nearly-finished façade of air-tight insulated panels painted charcoal. The exterior design is characterized by randomly offset windows and diagonal slashes and is not dissimilar to Perch Harlem’s. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose. The building is directly west of another similarly-sized building designed by PMA and finished in 2013.
In this article:
577 and 573 West 161st Street. Both designed by PMA (CityRealty)
PMA says, “The building intends to achieve significant operational savings over a standard building.” As in all Passive House structures, an emphasis is placed on providing both exterior and interior insulation at the exterior walls while also minimizing heat loss and heat gain to reduce the need for a large heating system.
The cellar and first floors will have a health care facility and each floor thereafter will hold four apartments apiece. There will be a recreational yard and roof deck. The building is located midway between Audubon Terrace and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center and is a block from the C train’s 163rd Street subway station.
Recent view of Perch Harlem located 10 blocks south (CityRealty)
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