‘It’s a sanctuary’: the magic of quiet, low-cost, allergy-free ‘passive’ homes

Energy-efficient passive design is catching on in New York and other cities as climate concerns rise

The first night Stephanie Silva spent at her new Brooklyn apartment was uncommonly quiet. So was the following morning and the next day. The 32-year-old native New Yorker had forgotten the last time she was able to mute the city of 8.2 million.

It's like a sanctuary," Silva says, but as soon as she opens the street-facing windows, the bustling outside noise fills her living room. Once she closed the windows again, the difference was instantly noticeable. Since moving here my anxiety went out the window," Silva says, referring to the 10-floor affordable apartment in Ocean Hill, part of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. But what sets this 67-unit building apart from the rest of the housing in the city is its passive" element.