
Corona Senior Residence
Pennsylvanie Housing Finance Authority
Corona Senior Residence
Project:Solutions for Passive House design standards
Quick Facts:
USA
2012
Baltimore
John Hopkins University
Goal:
Solutions for Passive House design standards
Corona Senior Residences is a 57,675 sf, 8-story 68-unit affordable housing apartment building for low-income seniors, designed to meet the NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Standards for Energy Star Certification as well as the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria.
It and will also be the first affordable senior housing development in the United States to meet the Passive House Institute (PHI) design standards. The ground floor of the building will be designated to an early childhood education facility to be administered by the New York City School Construction Authority.
System
The building HVAC system is comprised of small energy-recovery ventilators and variable refrigerant flow fan coil units in each apartment. Ventilation in the education facility and the apartment common areas and corridors is provided by large energy recovery air handlers.

Requirements:
The Passive House consultant sought to provide ventilation meet local code requirements, using devices meeting Passive House Institute requirements for:
- high heat recovery effectiveness
- high electrical efficiency
- low casing leakage
- low cross-contamination
- self-balancing control


Solution:
Passive House Institute Certification Criteria | Passive House Institute Minimum Performance | Passive House Institute Certified Performance Swegon GOLD RX 07 |
Heat Recovery Effectiveness | >75% | 85.5% |
Electrical Efficiency | <0.765 W/CFM | 0.68 W/CFM |
Casing Leakage | <3% | 0.45% |
Cross Contamination | <3% | 0.45% |
Self-Balancing Control | Return Air automatically reset to be within 10% of the supply air | Self-balancing control is a standard feature within Swegon’s GOLD Control System (IQ Logic) |