Site Sketches
At a recent site visit, James found a low-tech solution to coordinate with the carpentry team.
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Cutting Edge Energy Compliance Seminar
Karl Hansen will speak at the AIA WHV Cote Seminar on April 10th, 2024!
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Reimagine Buildings ‘24
James Hartford will speak at the Passive House Accelerator’s Reimagine Buildings '24 on March 7th-8th!
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Blast from the Past - Upstate House Feature
We were flipping through our library this week and caught sight of a favorite former project.
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Going Up!
Achieving an elegant stair takes a lot of coordination, from the initial design to the final installation. James and Karl worked with a steel fabricator to refine the staircase at each milestone.
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New Yorkers Weather Storms
“At River Architects, we are very passionate about Passive House design because it is directly addressing climate change. Passive Houses provide a more comfortable environment for occupants that are less impactful on the environment yet more resilient against storms. One of our early clients said, “Why would I build my home any other way?”
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Continuing Education
Continuing education is an important requirement for architects. We need to keep our team informed about new and evolving technologies, consistently expand our knowledge base, and understand the best materials available to our clients.
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Architectural Adventures - Spain
Join our Marketing Assistant Carly on an adventure through the architectural wonders of Spain!
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Hidden Sleeping Loft Doorway
Secret doorways and sustainable design standards are the way to our heart!
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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Professional Confessionals with Juhee
“I want to move people, create a space where people would feel lifted
spiritually, and make it worthwhile for someone to visit that space.”
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Our Founding Story
I was 29 years old and had just returned from a Fulbright Fellowship studying
Korean residential architecture when a friend introduced me to my very first
client, Oscar. He wanted to open a small bar in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. We
had a blast creating a “Cuban Lounge” on a limited budget. We even got published
in a few small media outlets.
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