Sustainable Building Passive House Design Webinar

Celebrate Sustainable House month with our monthly meeting devoted to passive house design in your home with ArchiSoul Director Jo Gilles and Project Leader Carole Huard.

Zoom Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86359193924?pwd=a2NjdzFEYU1EaFlEZzN1a1hEOWFMdz09

The Passive House concept was developed In Germany in 1991 by professor Dr. Wolfgang Fiest. Born out of a need to build homes that were not only sustainable but were ultra-low energy, comfortable, affordable, and have excellent indoor air quality.

The name comes from the German “PassivHaus”, the literal translation is “passive building” where the building envelope does most of the work to maintain the comfortable temperature inside the building (without the active input from the occupants). This includes – airtightness, thermal insulation, heat recovery, airtight windows, and thermal bridge construction. These techniques can be used in retrofitting existing buildings as well as new constructions or extensions.

The ‘ Passive’ house works for the inhabitants through:

• Comfort – The temperature is maintained at a comfortable range (between 20 and 25 degrees).
• Healthy– The ventilation system must provide 30m3 of fresh, healthy filtered air every hour for every person in the building. The system is able to filter out pollutants, smoke, and allergens to create a healthy indoor environment.
• Economical – Efficient heating systems are used in combination with mechanical ventilation which uses a heat recovery system. In hot weather, there is no need for reliance on air-conditioning. When compared to a standard building, there is a reduction of 90 percent energy use for heating and cooling,
• Sustainable – Ultra-low energy use significantly reduces CO² emissions and provides a positive contribution to mitigating climate change. Each is optimised to the local climate, so the heating and cooling requirements are minimised. A Passive House building has structural longevity, due to the ultra-low risks of condensation within the building structure (and interiors).

GEODESIC DOMES

Jo and Carol will also show examples of geodesic domes that are unique, beautiful, and spacious living environments. The Geodomes are roofless which means that wind doesn’t have the opportunity to create enough pressure to lift the structure and the structure allows for optimum air circulation and constant temperatures with fewer building materials needed to optimise the space. Geodomes can also be used as houses, in place of tents, or as greenhouses for productive growing cycles through sunlight refraction.