Sunset Electric is a twentieth century courtyard building. Expanding on an existing 1916 brick building, this project is a mixed-use residential and commercial structure, wrapped around an open courtyard. The design preserves the original building’s entire masonry façade pairing it with a quieter, non-competing frame; it provides a neutral foil to the historic masonry.

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, anticipating 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.