Paul A. Castrucci, Architects

04/20/2021

What will happen to all the empty office buildings and hotels? The NYTimes discusses opportunities, challenges, and initiatives to help New York City convert empty office buildings and hotels into affordable housing. Read more:

Commercial real estate has been hit hard by the pandemic, but there are plans to convert some of the now empty spaces into apartment buildings.

04/07/2021

We are excited to announce that The City of Chicopee has selected Brisa Builders, Singing Bridge LLC, and Paul A. Castrucci Architects (PCA) for the redevelopment of the Chicopee-Baskin Development, a former manufacturing industrial site located alongside the Chicopee River. PCA’s designs include rehabilitation of the Baskin Building into a new brewery, with pub and office space, construction of a new multisport indoor facility accommodating two soccer/lacrosse fields, an elevated running track, and climbing wall. A Passive House residential building with lobby, common areas, and approximately 100 "workforce housing" apartments are also planned. The project seeks to become a Net-Zero Energy, carbon neutral development.

03/15/2021

Paul A. Castrucci, Architects and are proud recipients of a Award in the design category for its project at Bethany Senior Terraces. NYSERDA’s Buildings of Excellence competition is a $40 million competition over three rounds. The competition recognizes and rewards the design, construction, and operation of very low or zero carbon emitting multifamily buildings. This project will be one of New York’s first projects, and with its 130 kW rooftop solar array will become part of the roadmap to a carbon neutral future. We’re grateful for being recognized as a leader in for our low-carbon building design/development.

03/08/2021

Happy International Women's Day! We're thankful for the opportunity to work alongside these talented women every day. We are continually inspired as they lead us towards a more sustainable (and better designed) future.

02/11/2021

Paul A. Castrucci, Architects’ Grayson Jordan and Asok Thirunavukarasu will presents a comparison of two similarly profiled multifamily senior affordable housing projects built to the Passive House Standard (Woodlawn Senior and Bethany Terraces).

This presentation illustrates conceptual approaches and challenges in building affordable Passive House projects and how modular construction can be considered to decrease construction time, control costs, increase quality, and decrease construction waste emissions.

Attendees will learn more about delivering Passive House Performance in Affordable housing building, key benefits of modular construction such as cost, schedule, and reduced life cycle carbon emission, and more. To attend this free event, please sign up at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/architects-focus-passive-house-traditional-vs-modular-project-delivery-tickets-141306636955

01/11/2021

We are happy to announce that Paul A. Castrucci Architects and have received NYC DOB approvals for Bethany Terraces. The 58-unit affordable senior affordable residential building unites modular construction with energy-efficient passive house designs. Located in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, the fully-electrified project offers indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, a community garden as well as +/- 14kW solar array, thermal insulation, and a VRF heat pump system.

01/05/2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/business/mental-health-facilities-design.html?referringSource=articleShare

Research into the health effects of natural and man-made surroundings is spurring the development of psychiatric facilities that feel more residential and welcoming.

11/18/2020

https://calendar.aiany.org/2020/11/12/redefining-the-street-listening-session-2/

The current crises that grip New York City have brought the design community together to help address immediate and long-term implications to the public realm. Redefining the Street: A Community Design Collaboration, sponsored by the AIANY-NYS Unified Crisis Task Force and ASLA-NY, invites the AEC...

10/27/2020

https://www.treehugger.com/how-design-green-community-5084147?utm_campaign=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=21903251&utm_term=

The Veridian at County Farm in Ann Arbor is a great demonstration of how it's done.

10/26/2020

Join AIANY's Civic Leadership Program (CLP) on October 29th as they explore NYC's voting landscape. The panel will examine voting from an historical perspective and discuss the potential for design to enhance the voting experience and voter turnout.

As we approach this year’s pivotal Election Day, join us for a virtual exploration of New York City’s voting landscape. We will survey existing conditions for NYC voters, both in the context of history and the physical experience of voting, before turning to analysis on the particular challenges...

10/23/2020

https://www.fastcompany.com/90551903/heres-a-simple-way-to-increase-voter-registration-have-landlords-give-new-renters-the-forms

Moving to a new apartment is a key time when voters fall off the registration rolls. But since you’re already filling out a lot of paperwork, why not one more page?

10/21/2020

PCA supports the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) mission encouraging affordable housing renters, housing justice groups and developers to register for the upcoming election, and are committed to working alongside our colleagues to remove existing barriers to voter registration for affordable housing renters. Learn more HERE:

Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020 is a non-partisan campaign to register, educate, and mobilize more low income renters and affordable housing advocates to be involved in voting.