Residing in Brooklyn’s decaying shipyard district, this modest renovation is to be the first mixed-use building in NYC to meet the most rigorous low-energy construction certification in the world – the Passive House Certification from the PHI in Darmstadt, Germany. Working within the significant constraints of re-using an existing NYC building, when complete it will use radically less energy – 90% less – than a new building built to code. This is accomplished through intensive air-sealing, with fresh air provided by a dedicated heat-exchanging ventilator, uninterrupted and thicker insulation than usual, and extremely high-performing windows and doors. In exchange, the building will be heated and cooled by a tiny air-to-air heat pump. The building’s energy use will be reduced enough to be met entirety by a rooftop solar array, making the project “net-zero” within a dense urban site. It will be quiet and comfortable, with fresh air year round, and will cost the owner almost nothing to use.

The building is being renovated to house a sound studio dedicated to electronic music and digital sound art, with a focus on vintage electronics from the 1980’s. As such, it is a place to make an essential human expression, electronically, in a new kind of harmony with nature. This music will literally be made from the sun. And it will have a place – it will be made and played and listened to here, in this building – whether or not the rest of the world has power.