Design + High-Performance

ZH Architects focuses on integrating sustainable practices into each project with unique low-carbon, low-impact solutions for any scale or budget.

  • Design integrity

    Our work synthesizes the principles of modern architecture and our commitment to high-performance design. We enjoy partnering with clients who share our belief in the social, economic, and environmental value of beautifully conceived buildings designed for minimal impact.

  • Community well-being

    Sustainable design on a human scale provides equal access to its inherent benefits: comfort, wellness, and equity. Residents of our buildings report favorable quality-of-life improvements including reduced noise, well ventilated spaces, allergen-free air, and comfortable interior temperatures.

  • Regard for the environment

    ZH remains abreast of the latest innovations in sustainable technologies and materials. After thoughtful consideration of the existing conditions of a project site, we develop a holistic design that responds to—and complements—the local ecosystem and employs a curated array of locally sourced renewable products.

  • Economic Viability

    Since the inception of Passive House and other energy-conserving building strategies, practitioners have amassed considerable subject-matter expertise, enabling them to design high-performance buildings within a cost structure comparable to that of conventional buildings. With new green building products being introduced regularly into the market, our clients need not choose between beauty and brains.

  • Energy efficiency and resource optimization

    Low-impact, low-carbon buildings are the proven alternative to the fossil-fuel-dependent legacy construction that adversely affects our health, ecosystem, and pocketbook. Leveraging innovations like Passive House and Mass Timber, our buildings reduce both operational energy usage and life-cycle impacts on the environment and its vital resources.

  • Resilience

    Whether new build or energy upgrade, we ensure our projects can withstand the challenges of climate change. We strive to put sustainability within the reach of everyone and have implemented our future-focused strategies in a single-family Victorian, an historic Tribeca warehouse, or a new downtown high-rise. Our approach to building improves usability, functionality, and value over time.

  • We were enthralled with how fast we rented out the first two phases of Flow Chelsea..... it was because of how beautiful and quiet the building was.

    Alex Bernstein - Bernstein Real Estate

  • With ZH we found a true partner who shared our passion in energy efficiency and design sensibilities. Together we made this home perfect for us.

    Bo Poulson

  • Through a multi-year, multi-phase process,  ZH Architects brought vision and an unrelenting commitment to partnership with our ownership group in developing a challenging site.  Their knowledge of NYC regulations and keen attention to business issues, in addition to their environmentally sensitive design expertise  was critical to increasing the value of our project.

    Daniel Hirsh - Alpha Beta Partners

  • We couldn’t believe that ZH could design the “glass house in the woods” we imagined that satisfied our low energy passive house desires.

    Donna Aronoff Smith

  • As an example of an elevated public realm, it shows how you can take a relatively modest scale of intervention and get a lot of leverage out of it.

    AIANY Awards Jury

People

ZH Architects is comprised of a dynamic and talented group of architects and designers

Principals

Stas Zakrzewski, FAIA
Principal, CPHD, LEED

Marianne Hyde, AIA
Principal, CPHT, LEED BD+C

Leadership

Avery Gray
Project Architect
Director of Sustainability

Victor Gorlach
Designer

Taisha Surial
Bookkeeping

Rob Desko
Comptroller

Zen
Director of Naps

Nicholas D’Vachio
Office Manager

Support

Established in New York in 2000, ZH Architects has evolved into an award-winning firm renowned for its rigorous integration of modern design principles and the leading-edge technologies and materials that advance low-carbon, high-performance buildings.  

Founding principals Marianne Hyde and Stas Zakrzewski are staunch advocates of sustainability in the built environment and committed to designing structures that can withstand the challenges of climate change while championing affordability and universal accessibility to the benefits of living in sustainable environments. 

Through scholarship, best practices, and in-the-field experience on an array of residential—both single-family and high-rise—commercial, and institutional commissions, they have over the last 12 years emerged as experts whose knowledge and counsel in the energy-saving Passive House and Mass Timber movements is sought by developers, peers, and municipal agencies alike. 

The upshot of their collective experience is multi-fold. In addition to being known for their versatility, their design sensibility, and the complementarity of their expertise, Marianne and Stas differentiate themselves in the sector with their ability to provide hands-on leadership through the duration of a project. The continuity of their management approach has led to enduring relationships and praise from colleagues, collaborators, and clients.

Collectively, Marianne and Stas have acquired more than four decades of design and project-management experience, both in partnership at ZH Architects for the last 20 years, and previously at premier firms including Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Wendy Joseph, and Maya Lin.

ZH is a WBE firm (Women-Owned Business Enterprise), as certified by the City of New York and the State of New York. 

Press

  • NYC's Passive House Movement Includes 65 Energy-Efficient Overachievers

    CityRealty — April 22, 2021

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  • Nice Shades: 24 Storey Passive House Tower Built in Manhattan

    Treehugger — July 22, 2019

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  • Rare Affordable Chelsea Homes Open To People Making Up to $138k

    Patch — Aug 1, 2018

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  • The Rice Paddy at Ground Zero

    NY Times — Aug 9, 2019

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  • Educational Rice Paddies Flourish at the World Trade Center’s Oculus Plaza

    World Trade Center — June 21, 2019

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  • Rice paddy/art installation at Ground Zero to symbolize renewal of the 16-acre area

    New York Daily News — June 5, 2019

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  • Old Victorian home in Brooklyn gets incredible Passive House Retrofit

    Inhabitat — Aug 1, 2018

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  • From Small to Extra Large

    Passive House Accelerator — Spring 2018 Issue

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More Press

Awards

2021
NYC Design Excellence: ZH Firm Selection 
MassCEC Runner Up: Boston HiP

2020
NYC Design Excellence: ZH Firm Selection 
SARA | NY, Design Award of Honor: Crown Heights Multi-Family
SARA | NY, Design Award of Honor: LuckyRice Paddy

2019
Buildings of Excellence, Award Winner: Chelsea Flow
Buildings of Excellence, Award Winner: Williamsburg Multi-Family

2016
NYC Design Excellence: ZH Firm Selection 
USDA Forestry Grant, Wood Innovation Grant Recipient: “CLT + Passive House NYC”

2009
SARA | NY, Design Award of Honor: Hudson Square Multi-Family

2008
AIANY, Design Award: Hudson Rise

2006
AIANY, Design Award Citation: ArtBox
New Practices New York: ZH Firm Selection

Lectures

2022
BE-Ex Beyond Zero Series: Burn Ban - The Benefits of Induction Cooking

2021
NESEA Conference: “Impact of 2020 Stretch Code” 

2020
NAPHN Conference: “Mass Timber and Passive House”
PHI International Conference: “Flow Chelsea”

2018
NAPHN Conference: “NYC’s 2nd Tallest Passive House”
NAPHN Conference: Embodied Energy in Passive House
AIA National Conference: Mass Timber

2017
Architectural Record: Successful Strategies for Profitable Carbon-Neutral Designs Using Passive House and Mass Timber
Mass Timber Conference: “Improving & Marketing Sustainability: Combining CLT and Passive House Construction”
NYPH Conference: Developers Passive House Workshop
PHI International Conference: “Detached Home Enerphit Case Study” 
Rethink Wood: “Mass Timber Strategies”