Harlem Townhouse

New Townhouse Design

Harlem, Manhattan, NYC

This is a design for a new 2 family townhouse in Harlem, New York City. The building is designed so that each family can have a home that functions as an individual townhouse. The first family in “Home 1” gets the first two floors and the rear yard. The second family in “Home 2” gets the third, fourth, mezzanine level and the roof terrace which functions as their rear yard.

This townhouse is designed to be a more sustainable modern version of the ubiquitous NYC townhouse. This house incorporates literal green features with various “green design” or sustainable design methodologies.

The building is proposed to be built with CMU blocks on a poured in place concrete foundation. The floors will be metal joist with concrete slabs. The exterior cladding is proposed to be GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) with continuous insulation between the CMU and GFRC. Closed Cell Spray insulation will be used on the interior side of the perimeter walls to achieve an air tight seal and high quality insulation.

The building is designed to be built to passive house design standards and incorporate other methods of sustainable house design. An ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation) Unit will be installed for mechanical fresh air circulation. Minisplit VRF HVAC systems will be used for heating and cooling with hyper heat to accommodate cold New York winters. The condenser units will incorporate Hot Water Heat Recovery from the tankless water heaters for additional sustainability. We propose to incorporate photovoltaic panels (solar panels) on the roof of the mezzanine level.

The roof deck will have precast concrete pavers and a portion of intensive green roof (soil depth greater than 6”). The green roof could accommodate a variety of different types of planting including urban agriculture.

The roofs will have floor drains that lead to tank and the rain water can be stored and used for watering the gardens. The tree in front of the townhouse will be deciduous blocking the sun in the summer and letting it through in the winter for passive heating and cooling.

New Townhouse Design NYC