Scenic Hudson Headquarters, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA

Reflecting their long history of land conservation in the Hudson Valley, Scenic Hudson’s adaptive reuse of a former manufacturing plant in Poughkeepsie reflects the organization’s leadership in the environmental community. The renovation will transform two industrial brick buildings into office space for staff and a community gathering space for events, meetings, and educational activities.
Working alongside MASS Design Group, Transsolar developed a climate concept that would meet the project’s ambitious quantitative performance goals while maintaining a qualitative connection to the surrounding environment, creating a positive impact on both the humans and the natural systems the building interacts with.
A façade-based ventilation strategy using trickle vents connects occupants with the fresh air they are breathing and reduces ductwork, preserving the historic character of the building. This strong connection to outdoors is further maintained by not actively controlling humidity; occupants will be able to notice changes in humidity following rainfall, for example. Ceiling fans provide comfort even under variable humidity.
The trickle vents are combined with heating and cooling finned tubes, creating a convector that tempers incoming ventilation air to room conditions. This unique design was tested in a climate chamber during the design process.
High-efficiency air-source heat pumps supply all-electric heating and cooling. A novel energy recovery strategy is also used: a heat pump lifts the temperature of heat extracted from the exhaust air up to the warmer temperature of the heating hot water.
Careful attention and coordination was given to envelope performance, balancing high-performance glazing, interior insulation, and air tightness while reducing embodied carbon and maintaining historic character through some sections of exposed brick.
100% of the site’s annual electricity use is produced on-site with photovoltaic panels located both on the roof and above surface parking. The designed operational zero carbon emissions resulted in the project receiving $2 million from a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Carbon Neutral Community Economic Development award.