Built in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, the passive house design features a commercial ground floor with a residential three-story building above. The home was built with an outdoor deck on the rear side of the building as well as a rooftop garden that offers views of Manhattan.

Though not passive house certified at this moment, the house has highly energy-efficient performance due to the addition of six inches of insulation on the sides of the building (allowed after negotiations with the neighboring residents) and seven inches on the front and rear walls.

The minimalist aesthetic chosen by the clients was meant to showcase passive house’s efficiency and simplicity – all while maintaining the congruence of brownstone buildings in the neighborhood.

The building continues to undergo improvements as the owner continues to add-on new features to the home such as a highly insulated door. This contemporary passive house design offers another example of how energy efficient homes are gaining traction in New York.

For more information, please see Julie Torres Moskovitz' book, The Greenest Home.

And visit Inhabitat.