The Canopy

The Canopy

Following on the heels of a previous single-family residential development scheme that proposed to clear cut the site and was shut down by neighborhood outcry, The Canopy consolidates the same residential density into a 5-story bar, slightly curved to minimize the visual impact on adjacent neighbors and oriented to maximize the harvest of solar energy on site.

A range of unit sizes and configurations provide a mix of affordability benchmarks. Balconies to the south extend the living spaces outdoors to nestle beneath the 75′ – 85′ canopy of landmark walnuts, hickory and bur oaks. The north side is unified by a lightweight trellis as a façade to facilitate the “greening” of its entry with vines grown from the north, east and west grounds of the site.

Novel configurations of heating and cooling technologies including heat pumps, solar thermal recovery and graywater thermal recovery minimize operational energy loads and the solar PV canopy balances this demand through its annual production. In sum, the project provides a new model of housing density in a neighborhood seeking to preserve the heritage landscape.