The House at Cornell Tech
Project Background
Cornell Tech had an ambitious vision for its state-of-the-art 12-acre sustainable campus on Roosevelt Island, the crown jewel of what is now considered the tallest Passive House in the world—a 26-story, 352-unit residential high rise that can house about 530 graduate students, faculty, and staff. According to Passive House advocates, such buildings not only result in superior energy efficiency, they are quieter than traditional spaces, thanks to the heavily insulated and airtight facade, and also have better indoor air quality due to the filtered fresh air delivered to all habitable spaces. Specifying a building envelope that would meet Passive House criteria and withstand very high wind loads was a challenge. The solution involved galvanized steel framing and custom prefabricated wall panels with built-in windows. A great deal of coordination and oversight was needed to ensure continuity of the insulation and air barrier.
In October of 2017, The House at Cornell Tech was officially certified to Passive House standards, in addition to receiving many other green building certifications including LEED® for Homes Multifamily High-Rise™ Platinum, ENERGY STAR®, and compliance with NYSERDA’s Multifamily Performance Program. Working to achieve these standards was made possible through careful collaboration and consistent teamwork by all project teams. Students are now occupying the building and energy use is being monitored.
Project Services
Steven Winter Associates was selected to join the project team to provide Green Building Certification, Commissioning, Energy Modeling, and Accessibility Consulting.
Primary Energy Conservation Measures
- Triple pane high efficiency windows
- VRF heat pumps for heating and cooling
- Energy recovery ventilation
- Prefabricated highly insulated metal wall panels– which provided increased quality control, a decrease in panel joints thereby reducing potential air leaks and thermal bridges, and increased speed of construction
- Projected savings of 60-70% whole building energy demand
Awards
2018
- Finalist, Architecture + Sustainability – Architizer A+ Awards
- American Architectural Award – Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies
- Open City Award – Open House New York (OHNY)
- Project of the Year, LEED Home Awards – U.S. Green Building Council
- Finalist, Excellence in Development – ULI New York
2017
- Award of Honor, Design Award – Society of American Registered Architects National
2016
- Award of Excellence – Society of American Registered Architects
2015
- Best Student Housing Project – Build Magazine
Press
New York Times- Living in the First Passive House High-Rise
Wall Street Journal- Why Your Next Home Might Not Need Any Energy at All
Metropolis- The House at Cornell Tech is the World’s Tallest Certified Passive House
The Atlantic- The Height of Efficiency