Garden Street Townhouse Recreation

Design of a modern, flood-resistant townhouse

This design-build project located in historic Hoboken, NJ.   The entire lower level of the townhouse was submerged under Hurricane Sandy floodwaters.   The floodwaters caused extensive damage to the finishes and destabilized the foundations.  The house required a full gut renovation.  The clients brought in Agencie for our experience with challenging enclosures and fabrication projects.  Our work includes repairing the existing shell, constructing a rearyard extension and, most importantly, creating a watertight structure to withstand future flooding.

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Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image
Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image
Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image
Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image

As part of the design-build, the lower walls were reconstructed as a watertight concrete “bathtub.”  These reinforced concrete walls are engineered to withstand high levels of water pressure and unequal static forces due to uplift.  Agencie designed the enclosure with thermoplastic waterproofing sheet membranes with double-welded seams.

Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image

The mechanical systems are engineered to ensure that HVAC systems maintain full performance during future flood events.  The plumbing design incorporates a series of sensors, drains, generators and sump pumps that are linked to the smart home system and immediately pump out any floodwater.

Garden Street Townhouse Recreation Image

The townhouse is an 18-ft wide historic structure.  The design opens-up and modernizes the plan, brings in more natural light, and enhances the historic character that made the existing house so appealing in the first place.  The master suite design features a solatube light tunnel.  The tube brings brilliant daylight deep into the center of the house.  A large steel and glass window wall, inserted into the rear of the house, opens up the parlor level to a new deck and the garden below.

In a brilliant turn at the front door, old timber joists were adapted to separate the entrance from the parlor.

- Gillian Blair, Jersey Digs

Type
Residential

Services

Architecture
Structural Engineering
Façade Engineering
Design Build
Recognition

Jersey Digs
Team

Andres Cortes, AIA
Sarrah Khan, PE
Nuria Forques Puigcerver
Scott Wagner
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