Group Agrees by Consensus To Incorporate
‘Passive House’ Techniques
By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
WINDSOR TERRACE — This week, Brooklyn Cohousing members decided unanimously — by consensus — to create their new home in Windsor Terrace as a low energy, environmentally friendly building.
“I think this is pretty big news. The decision was unanimous,” said spokesperson Alex Marshall, a founding member. “The consultants working on the project say it would be the most energy efficient building in New York City.”
The method of construction the group has adopted is called “Passive House” or, as it is known in Germany where it originated, “PassivHaus.”
According to Marshall, it involves a set of techniques resulting in a nearly air-tight building that simultaneously is supplied with clean, fresh air. Often heating and air conditioning is unnecessary beyond minimal levels, he said, and energy use can be a tenth of what it is in an average building.
In a Dec. 26 New York Times article by Elizabeth Rosenthal, it was described as follows: “Using ultra thick insulation and complex doors and windows [Passive House] engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’ bodies.”
As previously reported in the Eagle, Brooklyn Cohousing’s building, a three-story circa-1929 old warehouse and mattress factory at 1901 Eighth Ave., is being retrofitted as a 30-unit apartment building.
“The design will function differently than most residential developments because of the intention of those living there — people who are interested in a community-oriented way of living,” Marshall explained.
Thus, there will be private apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, but there will also be large communal areas including a dining room and kitchen (“for sharing occasional meals together”), a living room and game room (“for hanging out”), a kids room, a guest room for visitors, a workshop and tool room, and outdoor space on the roof, terraces and yard.
“It’s really about designing a community,” said architect Ken Levenson of Levenson McDavid Architects.
Levenson is already designing the existing building with cascading terraces and extensive common areas.
Adding this ambitious form of “green” construction fits his and their mission of being sustaining in a human sense as well as in an environmental sense. It will increase construction costs some but reduce the building’s operating expenses, according to Marshall.
“We’ll not only be the greenest cohousing community in the country, we’ll be one of the greenest buildings of any kind,” said Marshall. “And we could be the first multi-family building in the United States to be a certified Passive House building.”
The Passive House Institute, an American counterpart of the one in Germany, was formed a few years ago and certifies that buildings are constructed to its specifications, hence the certification for Brooklyn Cohousing.
In addition to Levenson, the team of architects and construction managers leading the group includes Ben Igoe of JBS Construction Management and David White of DCW Building Energy Consulting. White is a certified consultant on Passive House.
There are an estimated 15,000 existing buildings in Europe that meet “PassivHaus” standards, but only a handful of private homes in the U.S.
Brooklyn Cohousing, thought to be the first cohousing project in New York City, welcomes diverse people of all ages, races, cultures, religions and family types.
“We are particularly enthusiastic about making our community look like Brooklyn with a broad range of ethnicities and family types,” said Marshall, adding that the group is now composed of 16 families — about half families with young children, and half adults of varying family types ranging in age from the 20s to 70s — and has space for 14 more.
For more information about Brooklyn Cohousing and upcoming orientations, please visit www.brooklyncohousing.org.
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