The Hot New Luxury Good for the Rich: Air

At the Solaire, a high-rise with 279 residences that overlooks the Hudson River, Miroslav Salon brought me up to the roof to see where the air pulled out from the bathrooms and kitchens was being exhausted. As with the other buildings I toured, fresh air is pumped into the apartments 24 hours a day. The outside air is cooled or heated, and moisture added or removed depending on the season. Here, too, the air inside is much better than out. “There’s no need for the windows,” said Salon, the resident manager. “But I found from experience that it’s more psychological.”

Laurence, a woman who owns an apartment at the Solaire and works in interior design, said that her profession makes her very aware of the health implications of indoor air quality. During the wildfires, Laurence said, she was grateful to be unaffected. All of her homes have had high-quality filtration systems. “I can tell the difference when visiting homes with lower levels of air filtration,” she said. “There is often a smell or an unpleasant odor in the space. It doesn’t feel comfortable or safe visiting or living in those types of interiors.”

As I left the Solaire, I looked out onto the Hudson River. There’s been talk of building some form of seawall here to protect against flooding from the Hudson River during storm surges and rising water levels. Looking back up at the building, I imagined it surrounded by walls, windows sealed shut from the outside world. The life that these kinds of buildings offer is like one from a science-fiction novel, epidemiologist Casey said. “This is going to be the future: You’re under a glass dome.”