Northern Liberties Passive Rowhouse

Neighbors who are family can be the best kind. Tracy and Jane Brown eagerly relocated from Vermont when the opportunity arose to build a three-story home next door to their young grandchildren, daughter and son-in-law. The two homes are connected by a small backyard bridge, and the families now enjoy weekly dinners, piano lessons, and regular visits, just a few of the many mutual benefits of intergenerational living.

The Brown’s home is uniquely positioned on a tiny 36-ft deep by 19-ft-wide lot on the north side of Orkney Park in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is a compact and innovative new home that combines timeless craft with high energy performance. Despite an 18’ width and total of 1,675 sf of living space (not including the garage), the three bedroom, three bathroom home does not feel like a traditional Philadelphia rowhouse. The well lit and quiet interiors feel spacious, and evoke a rare sense of quiet and calm in an urban environment.

Given the site’s unique context, the design team set out to construct a residence that not only addressed the building’s program, but also was in dialogue with the park immediately to the south. To do so, a portion of the building from the property line is set back to allow for glazing on the southern exposure and a small terrace off of the main living space. The modified massing also affords an opportunity for change in materiality, which pairs resilient corrugated metal with rich (and Pennsylvania sourced) thermally modified tongue and groove oak siding.

The project is Passive House Certified (PHIUS+ 2018), and has a 3kw solar array on the roof as well as onsite battery storage. The envelope is highly insulated and air tight, and the amount of glazing has been moderated to provide ample daylight but not an excessive amount of solar gain or thermal transmission. An electric car charger, smart energy panel, and home energy automation systems have been installed to allow for source control and continuous monitoring of energy production and utilization.

The design and craftsmanship of the home was not sacrificed for performance efficiencies but rather strengthened by them, and the home aspires to be a model for individual commitment to energy resilience in the 21st century.