Seminary Hill Orchard and Cidery

This project was featured in the September 2021 issue of ARCHITECT.

In 2012, Douglas Doetsch and Susan Manning returned to their families’ agrarian roots and opened an organic apple orchard in Callicoon, N.Y. After developing their crops, the couple contacted the Hudson Valley, N.Y.–based River Architects in 2014, outlining plans for a cidery on their land at the foothills of the Catskills. But as the group toured the 62-acre property, a sloping, open parcel overlooking rolling hills and the Delaware River captured their attention. The project vision became a new, bank barn–inspired cidery that could help sustain the Hudson Valley as a tourist destination and place of employment. Completed in June, the two-story, 9,300-square-foot Seminary Hill Orchard and Cidery merges sustainable agriculture with environmentally conscious architecture.

River Architects, led by founder Juhee Lee-Hartford, AIA, has a wealth of experience with residential Passive House design, but for the rest of the project team, including Poughkeepsie, N.Y.–based builder Baxter, the cidery was an introduction to the rigorous energy standard. “[The cidery is] definitely not an easy [typology] to start with because it’s not repeated units of apartments that just go up in a block,” Lee-Hartford says.

The team wanted to avoid a scenario in which “electricians, plumbers, or mechanical installers come through and cut holes in something that somebody else took a lot of great care in making airtight,” says River Architects technical partner James Hartford, AIA, who also founded the Hudson Valley chapter of the Passive House Alliance U.S. When construction began in 2019, the firm organized a Passive House kickoff workshop to ensure a “clear understanding of the goals and the methodology,” he says. The designers walked the entire team through the project details, highlighting the unique features of the durable, timber-framed structure.

With its gabled roof and larch siding—a naturally rot-resistant wood reclaimed from the original Tappan Zee Bridge—Seminary Hill embraces classic agrarian forms while its standing-seam metal roof and photovoltaic array hint at the structure’s passive nature. An open-air entry clad in larch slats over polycarbonate nods to the breathability of hay barns, offering a sheltered transition between the interior and exterior—and an inviting glow when illuminated at night.

River Architects kept Seminary Hill’s lower-level fermentation, production, and storage rooms airtight with an envelope of cast-in-place concrete mixed with Poraver expanded glass. The lightweight aggregate not only improves concrete’s thermal performance but also reduces the quantity of concrete needed and, subsequently, the project’s cost and carbon footprint. The podium envelope also uses vapor-resistant insulation to maintain a 10- to 15-degree F temperature variant between the cool and humid production spaces and the commercial and event spaces above. Overhead doors and on-grade access directly connect production rooms to the orchards, which include an on-site gray-water treatment system.

For the upper level, the architects used structural insulated panels while maintaining extensive access to daylight and exposed timber beams. A blue-tiled tasting bar between the entrance and a commercial kitchen invites visitors to linger. The design team also installed a south-facing pop-out window bay on the structure’s western wall to deflect any blistering sunlight that might overheat the space. “Instead of having a big, long blank wall, we were able to break in and create deep penetrating light and views,” Hartford says.

For now, Seminary Hill is the world’s only Passive House–certified cidery, but River Architects hopes it will have company soon. The firm is training each team member to become a certified Passive House consultant, Lee-Hartford says, with the hope of growing a community commitment to “intelligent and sustainable architecture.”

Project Credits
Project: Seminary Hill Orchard and Cidery, Callicoon N.Y.
Client/Owner: Douglas Doetsch and Susan Manning
Architect: River Architects James Hartford, AIA, (River Architects, PLLC), Karl Hansen, AIA, (project manager), Vera Voropaeva (project architect and WUFI modeler), Adriana Rombaldi (WUFI modeler)
Interior Designer: River Architects
Mechanical Engineer: Christopher Fuller, Senior Mechanical Engineer of Staengl Engineering
Structural Engineer: Joseph Kelmanovich, Managing Partner of Blue Sky Design
Electrical Engineer: David Leetch, Senior Electrical Engineer of Staengl Engineering
Civil Engineer: Glenn L. Smith, P.E., of Glenn Smith Consulting Engineer, PC
Construction Manager: Matthew Repp, Project Manager & CPHB from Baxter
Landscape Architect: River Architects, clients, & civil engineer
Lighting Designer: River Architects
Passive House Consultant: Passive House Institute US, Tony Lisanti, PHIUS Rater, of Integral Building + Design
Size: 9,350 square feet
Cost: $4.2M

Materials and Products
Adhesives, Coatings and Sealants: Tremco Tuff n Dri + ExoAir, GCP Applied Technologies Bituthene + Hydroduct, Stego Industries StegoWrap, Solitex ProClima + Mento 3000
Bathroom Fixtures: Kohler sinks/faucets/toilets, Bobrick accessories
Cabinets: Custom
Ceilings: USG Gypsum wall board, Armstrong ACT
Concrete: Poraver Expanded Glass Aggregate
Countertops: MSI Quartz, Custom zinc bar top
Exterior Wall Systems:

• Lower Level – Cast-in-place concrete with Poraver expanded glass aggregate + locally sourced bluestone veneer
• Upper Level – 12” SIP panels with Neopor insulation from New Energy Works with Larch wood siding reclaimed from the Tappan Zee Bridge underwater pilings and standing seam metal

Fabrics and Finishes: T&C Surfaces ceramic tile
Flooring:

• Lower Level – Sikafloor 24 NA Purcem
• Upper Level – White Oak wood flooring with Bona Traffic floor finish

Gypsum: USGHVAC: Mitsubishi heat pumps (air to air), Chiltrix heat pumps (air to water), Renewaire ERVs
Insulation: Neopor SIPs, Cellulose, Rockwool, Armadillo Armatherm
Lighting Control Systems: iR-TEC
Lighting: LED – Illumina, Baselite, Olde Brick, DMF, Schoolhouse Electric
Masonry and Stone: Locally sourced bluestone
Metal: Custom
Paints and Finishes: Benjamin Moore Natura + Sikafloor PurCem
Plumbing and Water System: Rheem Hybrid (DHW)
Roofing: Standing Seam Metal Roof
Structural System: Cast-in-place Concrete, Steel, Heavy Timber, Wood Framing, Engineered Wood Floor + Roof Trusses
Wallcoverings: USG gypsum wall board and Larch wood reclaimed from the Tappan Zee Bridge underwater pilings
Walls: Conventional framing – dimensional lumber + USG gypsum wall board
Windows and Doors: Mavrik European Windows (triple pane), Hörmann overhead doors