Personal Residence of Prominent New York Real Estate Broker Achieves Phius CORE Design Certification

Richard Pedranti Architect (RPA), a premier architecture firm pioneering energy efficient architecture for modern living, now has under construction the Fall Brook Passive House, one of the newest Phius Design-Certified passive buildings in the Empire State.

In July 2025, the Fall Brook Passive House, a single-family passive home located in Livingston Manor, New York, and owned by leading real estate broker Jennifer Grimes of Country House Realty, received Design Certification under the Phius Core 2024 Program.

Under construction with William Case Contracting, the RPA-designed Fall Brook Passive House sits on 60 acres, showcasing picturesque ponds and stunning mountain views.

Pursuing full Phius certification, this home represents innovative sustainable design married with exceptional indoor air quality and cozy comfort when warm breezes turn to blustery winters.

“The Fall Brook Passive House represents a significant stride in residential design, showing what’s possible in a high-performance home,” explained James Ortega, Phius Certification Program Director.

To drastically cut heating and cooling demands, the Fall Brook Passive House incorporates critical passive building design principles. Its features include enhanced insulation, airtight construction, triple-pane windows, and a fresh air ventilation system with energy recovery. The home maintains comfortable temperatures year-round without needing a conventional HVAC system.

“The RPA approach dramatically cuts energy consumption, fosters significantly healthier indoor environments, and delivers exceptionally more comfortable living conditions,” said Richard Pedranti, Principal at RPA. “It’s been incredibly rewarding helping Jennifer realize her vision of an energy-efficient passive house.”

The advanced design of this three-story, 4,737-square-foot passive house signals exceptional energy efficiency. This performance is predicted using WUFI Passive whole building energy modeling software, the compliance tool required for Phius Certification.

“The Fall Brook Passive House represents a significant stride in residential design, showing what’s possible in a high performance home,” explained James Ortega, Phius Certification Program Director. “Phius Design Certification ensures that this project was designed to achieve its goals for energy savings and cost-effectiveness.”

Design Certification for Phius CORE 2024 verifies that architectural and engineering plans meet Phius’ performance and design requirements based on energy modeling and documentation before construction begins. When home construction is complete, the homeowner plans to pursue final certification with Phius which confirms that the finished building adheres to its certified plans and passes rigorous testing and third-party validation for airtightness, mechanical systems, and overall performance.

Phius is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting comfortable living for all and the well-being of the planet. Phius works toward this goal by training and certifying professionals, maintaining the Phius climate-specific passive building standard, certifying and quality assuring passive buildings, certifying high performance building products, and conducting research to advance high-performance building.

See article in the Home in the Country publication, page 4