Chapel Restoration Green Roof

“A green roof at the Chapel Restoration in Cold Spring is enjoying a rebirth and will soon flourish — but rejuvenating the biologically diverse rooftop has taken nearly 15 years.” - Highlands Current

Heidi StephensJanuary 23, 2024River Architects

Buildings of Excellence Award

James Hartford talks with Zack Semke from Passive House Accelerator about how he sees the future of Passive House in New York.

Heidi StephensJanuary 16, 2024River Architects

Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center

“The nature of experiments is that sometimes they don’t work over the long term, and updating becomes necessary."

James Hartford in Architectural Digest

Heidi StephensJanuary 9, 2024River Architects

Happy New Year - 2024!

Juhee Lee-Hartford started River Architects in her Battery Park City apartment way back in 2002 - almost 22 years of learning, growing, creating, and designing. James Hartford joined the studio early in 2004 (happy 20th anniversary, James!), and the team has only grown since then. Happy New Year from all of us, here in our Passive House Institute US certified Hudson Valley studio.

Heidi StephensJanuary 2, 2024River Architects

5 Passive House Principles

What is Passive House?

Passive House is a building design standard that can reduce energy use by as much as 90% compared to conventional construction.

Heidi StephensDecember 26, 2023River Architects

A secret doorway in Garrison

Hidden Sleeping Loft Doorway

Secret doorways and sustainable design standards are the way to our heart!

Heidi StephensDecember 19, 2023River Architects

Custom Kitchen Sneak Peek

Sneak peek from a custom kitchen

Sneak peek of from a custom kitchen in a Garrison, NY home. The details include recessing doors and a slide-out base tray to make the coffee pantry fully accessible and easy to clean.

Heidi StephensDecember 12, 2023River Architects

House on the Pond featured by Metropolis Magazine

Natural Habitat Feature

From Metropolis Magazine and DesignTV by Sandow, River Architects is honored to be featured in the first of their new video series, Natural Habitat, about homes that focus on beautiful design and meaningful sustainability.

Heidi StephensDecember 7, 2023River Architects

Professional Confessionals Podcast with James Hartford

Professional Confessionals with James

“To a lot of people, architecture is an intangible. It’s not something they understand. They can understand the work that an engineer does, so a building doesn’t fall down on them. They can understand the work a contractor does because they drive the nails or they apply the paint. But architecture is the art of the building, and that gets to be much more difficult for people to understand.”

Heidi StephensNovember 13, 2023River Architects