Candela Lofts

Project Highlights

• First luxury multi-family residential building in the NY metro area built to International Passive House standards
• Employed structural thermal breaks to thermally isolate balconies, roof awning structures and slab edge connections at the adjacent building  
• Thermal breaks were one of many sustainable design choices that helped this seven-storey building meet requirements for LEED Platinum and Passive House certification
    
  

Candela Lofts Installs Structural Thermal Breaks Meeting Passive House Standards

HOBOKEN, NJ—Built on the site of a former two-story candelabra factory, Candela Lofts is the first luxury, multi-family building in the New York Metropolitan area built to international Passive House standards. 

The 30,000 sq ft (2,787 sq m), seven-story structure offers nine two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury loft residences from 1,545 to 3,400 sq ft (144 to 316 m²). The units feature high ceilings, cantilevered balconies, open floor plans, oversized windows, state-of-the-art kitchens and master suites with walk-in closets. Some enjoy panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.

Measures achieving Passive House (and LEED Platinum) status include low-water consumption fixtures, a “green roof,” triple-glazed windows, and use of recycled and locally sourced materials. Each unit receives filtered fresh air through dedicated ventilation units that recover heat from exchanged air. 

Passive House measures critical at the envelope 

The building's exterior wall is part of its reinforced concrete structure. Façade clips, made of fiberglass to minimize thermal bridging, secure the exterior cladding and, in turn, 9.5-inch (24 cm) thick mineral wool insulation.

The sealed concrete exterior wall, insulation layer and exterior cladding form a cementitious barrier to rainwater/moisture penetration. Structural engineer Richard Christie of Christie Engineering (Jersey City, NJ) adds that, “‘Our wall sections have a vapor barrier, which helps avoid condensation inside.”

Structural thermal breaks played a key role in the Passive House strategy, preventing thermal bridging at the balconies, the awning roof, and a slab edge that abuts a neighboring building. 

“The only way we could meet Passive House standards in these areas was by designing in structural thermal breaks,” says John Nastasi, Project Architect and Principal at Hoboken-based Nastasi Architects.

Interior concrete insulated from exterior penetrations

Nastasi wanted the concrete to extend from the inside of each residence onto each balcony. “We didn’t want to build balconies from a secondary structure and then clip them onto the building, because they could seem like fire escapes,” he explains. “We wanted the concrete to seamlessly transition onto the terraces. The only way to achieve this design and meet the Passive House standard was to thermally isolate the balconies with structural thermal breaks.”

Thermal breaks prevent thermal bridging that occurs where cantilevered structures such as balconies penetrate a building’s insulated envelope. Drawing heat through the envelope from heated interior concrete or structural steel, the thermal bridge dissipates that heat into the exterior environment. Adjacent interior surfaces chilled by the penetration can form condensation and support mold growth.

Candela Lofts installed 350 linear ft (107 m) of two Schöck Isokorb^®structural thermal break types: one for concrete balconies and roof awning structures, and one for the slab edge connections that are opposite the neighboring building.  

The thermal breaks consist of a graphite-enhanced expanded polystyrene module with stainless steel rebar running through the insulation for tension and shear resistance. These bars tie into the rebar of the interior floor slab and the exterior balcony slab prior to pouring the concrete.

According to Schöck, structural thermal breaks reduce heat loss at balcony penetrations by up to 90 percent at the penetration.

Thermal breaks insulate inaccessible ‘party’ wall

One side of the Candela building abuts a neighboring structure for 20 ft (6 m), which raised a challenge for the Passive House designers. Passive House consultant Ed May, principal at BLDGTYP (Brooklyn, NY), and instructor at the North American Passive House Network, explains: 

“The thermal breaks for slab edges really came into play for us at this party wall where we had a structural separation with the neighboring building. We wrestled with how to provide thermal insulation at that wall, as we couldn’t access the back side of it; there wasn’t enough space between the buildings. The exposed slab edge otherwise would create a thermal bridge along the continuous insulation of the building envelope.

“We selected an Isokorb® structural thermal break that was a one-sided, slab edge thermal insulator with stainless steel rebar tying into the floor slab rebar.” The module insulates the interior floor slab from the exposed slab edge while transferring the loads imposed on the exposed slab edge back to the interior floor slab.

May continues: “These thermal breaks were laid in, the concrete was poured, and 8 in. (20 cm) of reinforced concrete now protrudes like a mini-balcony. This allowed us to build our fire-rated separation wall from the inside, but still get thermal separation at that narrow space between the buildings. It solved one of the critical head-scratchers we faced at the outset.”

Measuring Passive House measures

May says his energy modeling projects the building’s energy consumption (including heating, cooling, and electrical loads) to reach only 19.5 kBtu/ft² per year. That compares to the average multi-family energy use intensity in the area for an existing building at 125 kBtu/ft² (“New York City’s Energy and Water Use 2014 and 2015 Report,” October 2017).

May also reports Candela Lofts to have:

• Annual heat demand of less than 4.75 kBtu/ft²/year;
• Annual sensible cooling demand of less than 4.75 kBtu/ft²/year;
• Whole-building airtightness of fewer than 0.6 air-changes-per-hour (ACH@50Pa); and
• A 20,000 kWh/year gain from the solar-thermal domestic hot water system.

Passive House takes hold in NY Metro Area 

Structural engineer Christie sees thermal breaks as vital for the future of Passive House in New Jersey. “In the past, we were less concerned about insulation and its ramifications and left it with the architects. But with LEED and Passive House, we’re moving deeper into insulation and its value to designers and owners. Thermal breaks are an integral part of that and are proving to be a great tool for us. They will almost certainly become part of the building codes here in the future.”

Nastasi Architects Project Manager Juan Rodriguez agrees, seeing structural thermal breaks playing a vital role in Passive House application. “I can’t imagine being able to provide the look we were going for without these isolators. To have exposed concrete in a Passive House building — on the outside of the building — I don’t know how else you could do that.”

Candela Lofts also presented a perfect opportunity for Bijou Properties, the Hoboken-based developer of the project. “All of our developments are deeply rooted in sustainability practices,” explains Matthew Testa, Bijou construction director. “Our core values are wrapped around the concept of better buildings for a better neighborhood and a better city. We accepted without blinking the opportunity to participate, because we know that Passive house is the next step in a sustainable world.”