Capitol Hill’s Sunset Electric Building reconciles the relationship between a 1926 brick building and its new residential addition. The design path selected preserves and restores the original building’s entire masonry façade at street level, utilizes (not expands) the existing single level of sub-grade parking, and creates the residential addition above as a neutral “foil”. The figure/ground relationship celebrates the existing building, with the addition as a quieter, non-competing frame.

Taking cues from the past, the building’s form promotes natural daylighting and passive cooling by organizing a single-loaded structure around an open-air courtyard; an extension to an open-air lobby that connects to the pedestrian street. A prominent exterior stairwell encourages walking between levels. These strategies create a social focal point for the building while eliminating mechanically-conditioned corridors and common areas promoting through-unit ventilation and allowing operable windows at both ends of most units for daylighting.
 
An innovative, efficient reverse-cycle chiller system is used as a supplemental heating source for domestic water, tapping into the sub-grade parking level’s temperature-stabilized air. Based on energy modeling, anticipated EUI is 24 Kbtu per SF/year. This represents a 63% reduction from the base-case of 63 Kbtu as calculated for 2030 challenge requirements, exceeding current compliance levels