Hey, let’s build something like this in New York www.instagram.com/reel/DYzfC6z...

E24-24, my proposal to raise the IBC’s single-stair apartment building height limit from three stories to four, has passed the final membership vote, and will now officially make it into the 2027 IBC 🎉

This is the wrong decision for transit in New York. Existing rights-of-way that travel through dense, under-served neighborhoods do not grow on trees, and it's a massive own goal for any city to not take advantage of them. No plan does this better than @queenslink.org.

I wish there were a button for “I hate what’s being described in this post but I like that it’s being reported”

If solar panels or heat pumps blew up entire apartment buildings as often as natural gas systems do, they would be banned tomorrow.

In NYC, the median number of floors, in all boroughs except Manhattan: 2 The median zoning Floor-Area-Ratio in the city: 1.0 But buildings close to transit can be tall, right? No! 452K lots out of 890K are within 0.5 miles of mass transit. Median FAR for these lots: 2.1

Allowing smaller elevators would make it feasible to add them to brownstones and 2-3 story apartment buildings

Got distracted by this at the Home Depot parking lot

The time tunnel was the most interesting part of the conference hall

👩‍🎓 Passivhaus economics stack up for LSE The London School of Economics (LSE) has secured planning approval for the redevelopment of Bankside House into a 1,945-bed student residence, targeting the Passivhaus standard. https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/news/detail/?nId=1568 Gwilym Still

Domino’s building getting a facelift in Amsterdam. Construction vehicle blocking the bike lane.

A leader in integrated downspout design

Sidewalk shed in Amsterdam. With facade protection that’s often missing in New Amsterdam. cc: @stephenjacobsmith.com

Dutch window sill detailing is so different from German techniques. These rely on proper maintenance of paint and sealants for waterproofing and air barriers. German designs are more foolproof.

Modern architecture in Rotterdam is so much fun

Sonneveld House in Rotterdam

U-Bahn Baustelle

Social housing built over a bunker in Berlin

Baustelle Berlin

Scarpa but by Chipperfield

I’d never seen this type of wood medallion detailing on a window before. The medallion is friction fit on the glass.

Great news ICYMI: the huge CHPE renewables transmission project from Canada to NYC is now running power. Atm it’s in test mode. Very soon it’ll send commercial electric power. It’s HUGE: it’ll be about 20% of the power for the entire NYC grid, which will go from ~10% to ~30% hydro, solar & wind!

Slightly diminish a book Autobiography of Pink

Passive House retrofit in Cologne with red metal shingled walls. Prefab panels but the shingles had to be installed on site. Four types of shingles varying pattern and texture. Recalls traditional slate roof and wall shingles.

For deep-energy retrofits is it better to do them fast or more deliberately? On the Passive House Conference tours we saw projects that were very good but not perfect, in part because of EU funding that required them to design and build quickly.

I don’t usually post photos of my lunch, but I couldn’t resist this time

ICE im Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof

Old rail and pedestrian bridge over the Rhine in Cologne. Damage from the war (I assume) is still visible

Nice day for a Schwebebahn ride!

6-story building from 1972 retrofit by Zeller Kölmel Architects in Köln. Wood prefab panels craned onto the facade. Architect said they might go with a wood frame for the windows next time to save time and money. Part of the International Passive House Conference tour

So much potential for prefab, especially panelized prefab. But shipping containers do not make good housing.

The International Passive House Conference is going back to Innsbruck in 2027

The Massachusetts Model at the Passive House Conference

Another New York project at the international Passive House Conference. NYU Rubin Hall retrofit.

Deep energy retrofit of two floors of Claridge House, an historic brick building in London by Studio PDP. Vacuum glazing at interior to keep historic windows. Diathonite and aerogel interior insulation.

Fire house retrofit in Manhattan by Michael Ingui. Passive House consulting by Ed May.

Timothy Lock presenting AIA COTE winning Davis Center at the international Passive House Conference

Sendero Verde: the tallest Passive House building in the world, 34 stories, located in Harlem. Presented by Handel Architects at the international PH Conference

Ventilation with heat recovery (ERV) often goes into bypass mode in the winter in an attempt to keep the temperature in a narrow range. This leads to unnecessary heat loss. From Wolfgang Hasper’s presentation at the Passive House conference.

One message that comes through this #28intPHC is “Keep it Simple.“ Zoltan from Romania shows how important simple forms and orientation are in houses; James from Scotland explains how in larger projects, systems can get complex, give them lost of room. An article here for @phplus.bsky.social

Case study of a small passive house retrofit with 240 mm mineral wool insulation over the existing brick facade

Passive House retrofits in different styles and building types. Examples from Austria

At the international Passive House conference in Essen, Germany

The area around Utrecht Centraal station is crazy

Deutsche Bahn arrived in Mönchengladbach early!

Bye Utrecht! Off to Essen via Moenchengladbach

Utrecht construction materials delivery

Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht Had to see it in person

Little Italy and a little bit of PoMo in Amersfoort

Modern trash collection in Amersfoort. Why is this impossible in New York?