Professional Portrait: Donna DeMari / Makeup: Cassandra Saulter

Juhee Lee-Hartford was recently interviewed by New Yorkers Weather Storms, a social media platform devoted to sharing stories about climate change impacts to local New York communities.

“During the flood of July 2023, a friend of ours was lost to the storm. Her father is a local Passive House builder and colleague, trying to build a better world. That was such a heartbreak.

We are very mindful of flooding. We have worked on a couple of projects here in Cold Spring that are in the flood zone. Living spaces can be elevated to limit damage from rising water. Ground level can be addressed with proper planning, for example, electrical components are placed above flood level. We have created a waterproof concrete ‘bathtub’ when needed. We also incorporate solar panels and a battery back-up system into our design to help residents withstand storms and power outages.

For flood-proned areas, we are now specifying puffed recycled glass product called Glavel because it provides both gravel and insulation properties in one product without the buyoncy of a foam insulation. Speaking of innovative products, we have had success with Poraver, which is a great way to increase insulating value of a concrete foundation wall. This was successfully applied at Seminary Hill Cidery to maintain ambient temperature. Poraver is a concrete aggregate made from 100% recycled, expanded glass. We are now beginning to specify wood-fiber-based insulation such as TimberHP, also.

And, we are currently working with NYSERDA on numerous projects. One of them is a storm-resilient passive house retrofit of a historic bank building The Bank Lofts in Richfield Springs, New York. Another is a Department of State-NYSERDA collaboration on Downtown Revitalization Initiatives (DRI) projects through which we consult other developers on how they can make their buildings more energy efficient and resilient to climate change.

At River Architects, we are very passionate about Passive House design because it is directly addressing climate change. Passive Houses provide a more comfortable environment for occupants that are less impactful on the environment yet more resilient against storms. One of our early clients said, “Why would I build my home any other way?”