Charlotte Gardens eco-friendly development featured on Amazon Prime

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A rendering of the high rise.
Courtesy of Node Architecture, Engineering, Consulting P.C.

The design of a two-building, seven-story, 18,000 square foot development in the Bronx is garnering nationwide attention.

“Our Corner of the Planet”, a documentary released this week on Amazon Prime, featured the 24-unit, multi-family development and its Passive House Pre-Certified design, which once constructed, will be almost a net-zero carbon energy building.

“I was inspired to do this documentary after hearing about the incredible work being done to create a net-zero house in New York City,” said documentary director, Julia St. Pierre. “It made me wonder what other people around the country were doing to improve their own communities. Talking with everyone in the documentary, including Jakov, showed me that meaningful change doesn’t have to come from a nation’s leaders to be important: it can start with anybody, anywhere.”

Principal architect, Jakov Saric, a Certified Passive House Designer, jumped at the opportunity to team with an innovative developer who is oriented toward building a portfolio of sustainable and efficient properties.

“We designed a completely energy-efficient space,” Saric said. “We designed a system to treat sanitary waters onsite to produce methane and, using a generator, turn that into heat and electrical. This piece of the design was very challenging as we needed to design a system to return the excess energy our building creates back to NYC’s main utility provider. Once constructed, this building will be almost completely off-grid.”

The building specifies a super insulated steel structure with a high-performance envelope, clad with solar panels and continuous solar panel structure above the roof. Air tight Passive House Certified windows and doors will be used to provide thermal comfort.

Less than a quarter of energy used in New York comes from renewable sources. Saric believes it is everyone’s responsibility to educate themselves on how they can contribute to a more sustainable future.

“Following Passive House principles is one way we improve the eco-friendliness of our built environment and contribute to society,” he said. “I’m proud to be working with this developer and others to lead the way in creating a more sustainable New York City.”

To learn more about the project visit NODE’s Youtube or website. To watch the documentary in full, visit Amazon Prime.