Brewer, ME
Village Centre Apartments
Architect: CWS Architects
Photographer: Sandy Agrafiotis
About
Village Centre Apartments is a 48-unit workforce housing development located in the heart of Brewer, offering residents convenient access to shopping, services, and employment opportunities. In addition to providing thoughtfully designed, affordable housing, Village Centre stands out as the largest Passive House development in North America at the time of its completion. The project features a range of resident amenities including a community playground, garden space, bicycle storage, central laundry, and shared community rooms, creating a vibrant, comfortable, and connected living environment.
Sustainability
This project was designed and built to meet Passive House certification standards, achieving a source energy use intensity of 50 kBtu/sf/yr, over 60% more efficient than a code-compliant building. To meet these high-performance goals within the constraints of a publicly funded budget, the team optimized the building envelope and simplified the HVAC system design. Energy modeling guided the selection of cost-effective systems, including high-efficiency energy recovery ventilators and compact mini-splits for cooling.
