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As major U.S. cities experience high commercial real estate vacancy rates and severe housing shortages, developers have an opportunity to invest in and convert aging buildings and stranded assets. Editor’s Note: This blog is part of our Design Forecast blog series, looking at what’s next in 2025 and beyond.
Gensler and Vanbarton Group detail how they partnered to convert a 1970s office tower into a thriving residential community. As global interest in office-to-residential conversions continues to grow, Pearl House in New York City’s Financial District, offers a key built example of how to transform an underutilized office building into a thriving residential community that positively impacts its surrounding neighborhood.
Use Design to Turn Office-to-Residential Challenges Into Opportunities Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images Contrary to much of the naysaying, office-to-residential conversions are full of possibility and opportunity. But, in order to work, these projects require a departure from conventional thinking, one that uses the power of design to recast architectural challenges as residential opportunities.
Building integrated photovoltaic (BiPV) systems generate electricity, but also heat, which is typically wasted and also reduces the efficiency of generation. A heat recovery unit can be combined with a BiPV system to take advantage of this waste heat, thus providing cogeneration. Two different photovoltaic (PV) cell types were combined with a heat recovery unit and analysed in terms of their life-cycle energy consumption to determine the energy payback period.
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