Alafia Jobsite Walk: DWALL 1500 Panels in East New York, Brooklyn

In East New York, Brooklyn, a new residential tower is rising with an ambitious goal: to push the limits of sustainable urban housing. Alafia is a 14-story residential development designed to demonstrate how performance, durability, and affordability can coexist—at scale—in New York City.

A key part of that strategy is the building envelope.

In our latest jobsite video, Dexter walks the site to show how a portion of Alafia is wrapped with Dextall's DWALL 1500 prefabricated panel system—a passive house wall assembly engineered for high performance, airtightness, and long-term durability.

Built for performance: the envelope as a driver of efficiency

For projects targeting major reductions in energy demand, the facade isn't a finish—it's a system. At Alafia, the passive house wall construction and airtightness strategy play a critical role in reaching Passive House–level efficiency, significantly reducing energy demand and operational costs over the building's lifetime.

The scope includes:

• DWALL 1500 prefabricated panels supporting airtightness and durability
• Nearly 73,000 square feet of custom aluminum cladding
• A high-performance thermal envelope designed to support long-term efficiency

Factory-built precision, field-ready delivery

Each panel is fabricated off site in a controlled environment, bringing consistent quality and precision from the factory to the field. This passive house envelope construction approach supports tighter tolerances, repeatable execution, and a more predictable installation workflow—especially valuable when performance targets depend on passive house wall details like continuity of insulation, air sealing, and alignment.

A model for what comes next

Alafia is more than a single building. It's a model for how sustainable design, prefabrication, and affordability can work together to reshape urban living—without sacrificing performance or durability.

As cities expand affordable housing, the industry needs repeatable strategies that reduce energy demand, lower lifecycle costs, and scale across varied sites. High-performance prefabricated envelope systems are one of the clearest paths forward.

Watch the Alafia jobsite video

To see the envelope strategy and prefabricated delivery approach in action, watch the full jobsite walk: