Technology & Wellness
Charlotte of the Upper West Side sets a new benchmark for sustainable architecture with an emphasis on wellness and luxury. Intelligently designed and engineered, with integrated state-of-the-art building systems designed to boost residents’ health, wellbeing, safety, and comfort, these homes are good for the environment and good for you and your family.
Airtight Envelope
The building’s architects, engineers, and development team went to extraordinary lengths to achieve Passive House Institute certification, which is known to reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 90 percent. Robust insulation and airtight seals minimize air leaks and drafts, keeping rooms consistently comfortable and quiet while significantly reducing energy consumption.
The crisp, museum-quality glass offers maximum daylight and views with added protection from dust and street noise.
The quadruple layer, triple-paned windows are up to four times more energy-efficient than standard residential windows, providing constant year-round indoor temperatures. Window panes and wood frames stay cool to the touch on very hot summer days and warm in winter. Instead of shifting seasonally between stifling heat and freezing cold, room temperatures stay consistent and comfortable. On the coldest days, you could sit right next to the window without a heater or having to wear a thick sweater.
Learn More
Charlotte of the Upper West Side is pursuing Passive House certification. The Passive House standard focuses on bringing a home’s energy consumption for heating and cooling to virtually zero. This type of house provides a high level of physical and mental comfort for residents, with constant year-round temperatures and a remarkably quiet living space. This is achieved through extensive insulation to prevent heat loss or gain, an all-electric Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) HVAC system specific to each residence, and introduction of fresh air through specially built vents that exhaust stale air while transferring the temperature to the incoming fresh air. In addition, industry-leading duct and air sealing technology from Aeroseal minimizes leaks to ensure air flows where it’s engineered to go. Aeroseal’s patented, non-toxic, water-based formula effectively seals all holes and gaps in air ducts and vents. Comprehensive and detailed inspections at every stage of installation ensure the custom envelope remains airtight.
The Passive House standard originated in Germany several decades ago and has since spread around the world as building professionals have sought ways to create more resilient, energy-efficient, and comfortable living environments.
Triple-paned, quadruple-layered, and highly energy-efficient windows feature Guardian’s UltraClearTM glazing. This museum-quality low-iron glass offers brilliant neutrality and a light transmission rate of more than 91 percent for incomparable esthetics and an incredible viewing experience.
The Passive House-rated, hybrid aluminum and FSC-certified wood windows, a combination of Zola's European-crafted ZNCTM and ThermoPlus CladTM systems, are the first to pair Zola windows with Guardian's UltraClearTM glass. Offering two layers of German-engineered Purenit, a patented CFC-free polyurethane foam insulation resistant to moisture and other environmental hazards, these windows boast the highest thermal performance among Zola’s industry-leading products.
Louvers
A terra-cotta louver system outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the building’s Columbus Avenue facade helps keep the kitchen-living-dining room bright and comfortable all year long.
In summer, the custom baguette-shaped louvers deflect the heat of the high-angled sun’s rays while still allowing sunlight to brighten the indoors.
In winter, the low-angled sun passes between the louvers, bringing in welcome warmth and light during the colder months of the year.
Ventilation
The benefits of good indoor air quality include reduced respiratory problems, better sleep, higher productivity, and a general feeling of wellbeing. While most buildings have indoor air quality that is 10 times worse than the air outside, at Charlotte of the Upper West Side, every residence has its own individual high-performance ventilation system with separate ducts to make the air inside your home as comfortable and as clean as possible. In comparison, most newly constructed properties are typically outfitted with a single ventilation system for the entire building.
The state-of-the-art, Swiss-engineered energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system is engineered to deliver fresh filtered outside air to each room of your home, repeatedly exchanging stale indoor air with fresh air from outside. It is well documented that better air quality means greater productivity during the day and better sleep at night.
120%
At the touch of a button on a smartphone app, residents can adjust the amount of air flowing into their home, boosting fresh air up to 120 percent above the building’s already superior fresh air flow.
Each residence has its own state-of-the-art, Swiss-engineered energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system that delivers fresh filtered outside air to each room of the home, repeatedly exchanging stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air.
13-28x
The ERV system exchanges your home’s entire volume of indoor air with freshly filtered outdoor air 13 times per day in normal-use mode. In boost mode, air is exchanged more than 28 times.
The system also maintains constant indoor temperatures and humidity levels year-round.
In summer, ERV units remove moisture from warm, humid outside air before mixing it with outgoing conditioned air.
In winter, the system transfers heat from outgoing air as it mixes with cold fresh air from outside.
Air Filtration
High-efficiency state-of-the-art filtration will purify the incoming fresh air entering each residence’s individual ventilation system, removing irritants and allergens including tobacco smoke, pollen, fine dust, and pet dander. Afterwards, UV light is used to eliminate nearly all viruses, bacteria, mold, and fungi. The dual strategy for eliminating external contaminants creates unparalleled indoor air quality.
Learn More
The UV system has been engineered into all of the fresh air, ERV, and residential HVAC units in the entire building, including all common areas, with remote sensors to detect bulb outages. UV light is applied on the supply side of the units, which dramatically reduces or eliminates biological contaminant buildup on the heat-exchange fins and ductwork. This results in even cleaner air, with high long-term operational efficiency.
Sound Insulation
The residences are remarkably quiet, thanks to robust insulation on exterior walls and quadruple layer, triple-paned windows that virtually eliminate outside noise. Many spaces, including secondary bedrooms, have quadruple layers of high-performance acoustically insulated QuietRock drywall. Robust insulation between residences minimize floor-to-floor sound transmission.
Low or No VOC
Non-toxic interior materials and finishes boost indoor air quality throughout the residences by reducing or eliminating the off-gassing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Reducing VOCs, which can cause allergies, ear, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, and even damage to the kidneys, liver, and central nervous system, creates a more comfortable and healthier environment for residents.
FSC Standards
Charlotte of the Upper West Side is crafted entirely with sustainably sourced materials. All wood flooring, doors, window frames, wood trims, and millwork, including custom Henrybuilt kitchens and bathroom vanities, are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as meeting its worldwide standards of environmentally and socially responsible forest management.