The Urban Glass House was designed by Philip Johnson as a tribute to his Modernist roots: the SoHo condominium building was conceived as the urban counterpoint to his famous Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Architect Annabelle Selldorf designed the interiors of the Urban Glass House.

The luxury, 12-story building remains intimate, with only 40 units and a penthouse occupying the 12th floor. Common spaces include a well-equipped fitness room and yoga room, bike room and storage facilities. Additional features include storage bins and bike room

Located in West SoHo a block from Hudson River Park, the building sits at the crossroads of SoHo, the West Village, and Tribeca, putting residents within walking distance to downtown’s hippest shopping and restaurants.

The Urban Glass House’s HOA retained Brightworks to help it achieve LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:O+M) certification for their building to protect and improve property values in the ever-competitive New York City housing market.

LEED EB:O+M is only now beginning to be applied to multifamily residential buildings, so Brightworks performed a gap assessment to make the path to certification clear for the HOA, so that it could make an educated decision on whether to move forward. The assessment report helped the HOA choose a certification path best suited to its needs. It also provided informative energy use information and specified concrete strategies that would allow owners to confidently pursue certification, despite the relatively new application of this rating system to this building type.

The Urban Glass House team is currently working toward certification under Brightworks’ coordination and management, Upon completion, the Urban Glass House is projected to be only the third multifamily residential property to achieve LEED EB:O+M certification.