CITYLIGHT
Religious Assembly, Early Childhood Education
Adaptive Reuse, Deep Energy Retrofit
30,000 SF
Philadelphia: Manayunk
Built circa 1850 on the banks of the Schuylkill River, the Roxborough Mills building is being transformed into a long-term home for Citylight Church. This project examines the challenges of designing in a rising flood zone, renovating a 175-year-old building, navigating Federal and Local Historical registers, and marrying these complexities with aggressive carbon goals. The building program leaves the ground level unoccupied as a sacrificial flood zone, while the second floor will include a 500-seat assembly worship space, prefunction areas, office space and both adult and early childhood education facilities. The project is an exemplary model of adaptive reuse architecture in the face of a rapidly changing climate, by incorporating building science, life cycle carbon and operational costs into a holistic conversation about long-term preservation. Once constructed, it is modeled to use one half the embodied carbon of comparable new construction. After the rooftop photovoltaic system is installed, it is projected to use one fifth the operational carbon compared with the regional average for this typology.
PROJECT STATS
Passive House Principles: PHI EnerPhit program framework
Philadelphia and Federal Register of Historic Places
Special Flood Hazard Zone
Environmental site remediation
Native landscape restoration
Building Geometry:
Heat Loss Form Factor: 2.4
Window to Wall Ratio: 17.4
Building Metrics:
Predicted Energy Use Intensity (pEUI): 35 kBtu/sf/yr, 15 kBtu/sf/yr with future Solar PV
Embodied Carbon: 393 CO2e (A1-A3 Cradle to Gate)
Building Envelope:
Slab on Grade: Existing to Remain
Floor/Ceiling: R-43
Above Grade Walls: Average R-22
Roof: R-30
Windows: U-Value 0.20, SHGC 0.32
Skylights: U-Value 0.17, SHGC 0.26
Building Systems:
Power / Fuel Source(s): All electric
Renewable Energy: Solar ready for future 66 kW rooftop PV system
Heating & Cooling: Air-cooled, heat recovery, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pump
Ventilation: High efficiency energy recovery ventilator
Domestic Hot Water: Heat pump water heater
Low-embodied carbon building envelope
Appliances: Energy-Star
LED lighting
Project Team:
Owner: Citylight Church
Builder: The Norwood Company
Owner’s Rep: Watchdog
Structural Engineer: Larsen & Landis
MEP Engineer: J+M Engineering
Civil Engineer: Ruggiero Plante Land Design
Acoustics/AV: Threshold Acoustics
Landscape Architect: Apiary Studio
Passive Building Feasibility: bldgtyp
Historic Preservation: Heritage Consulting
GeoTechnical: GeoStructures
Solar Feasibility: Solar States
Lighting Agency: Diversified-Group