Passive house

The villa is situated on the northern edge of a southward sloping plot with an area of approx. 6,500 square meters. In the lower part of the plot there is a full-grown forest. The plot is part of a natural, long and gradually sloping land form – a gorge, sloping in the east-west axis in the direction of a nearby dam. As far as size is concerned, the designed building is one of the largest buildings within the municipality, following close behind a former school building, or a landmark of folk architecture– a wooden protestant church from 1783, which is directly visible from the villa. The church also served as a model for the overall design of the villa, which in its contemporary design interprets the duality of exterior and interior in... More

Passive house Hjulstad is a wooden family home located on the arctic circle in Mo I Rana, Norway. The house is situated ona southward orientedhillside overlooking the fiord and oriented to the sun where it accumulates the sun’s radiation. The orientation of the building createsa natural outdoor microclimate that shelters from the different winds and provide good outdoor spaces through the different seasons of the year. Due to the cold climate the clients wanted to minimalize heat loss of the building envelope. The structure consist of a double 2”4” frame with 300 insulation in between to ensure minimal thermal bridge. The house is built in accordence with Norwegian passive house standard. The passive house is a 2-story house. T... More

A medical couple from the wine region decide to build a refuge for their retirement. It should all be one a single level, comfortable and with a private outdoor space. These self-builders have already built a house previously in the 90s and want to take the creature comforts with them to their new home. Thus the interior will sport a wood-burning stove, and an extra entrance which can be used when coming home from a long hike with the dog including a shower and mudroom. The south-facing plot is situated next to a small stream with views over the fields and rolling hills of the outskirts of Althöflein. The two adjoining building create an intimate courtyard, offering complete privacy for the owners. Landscape architect Joachim Kräftner wo... More

CASE DI LUCE is a highly innovative sustainable urban regeneration project in Bisceglie which involves the replacement of urban abandoned industrial sites , by considerable environmental problems, with a new highly sustainable and energy self-sufficient urban model consists of an eco- park facilities that, respecting the bio-climatic and morphological characteristics of the place, talks in a spatial and temporal unicum with the new urban fabric consists of two multi-story residential and commercial near-zero-energy buildings characterized by 61 flats energy efficiency class A + . The residential buildings , through the use of sustainable materials , renewable energy sources , the use of passive solar gains and natural ventilation , as w... More

This 1,600 square foot home perches on a rock outcrop overlooking an Eastern Ontario lake. The home's low profile and compact design uses aging-in-place principles like minimizing stairs and creating en grade entrances, and the structure's materials work to cohesively integrate the building into the surrounding landscape. The single storey floor plan consists of 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and a detached garage. Not only beautiful, this house is also extremely energy efficient, nearly achieving the rigorous and demanding Passive House Canada Standards. More

Loma Linda 2, the second home from Arizona-based VALI Homes, combines timeless design details, modern construction and energy saving technology that goes beyond what would be needed for LEED Platinum certification. The single-family home, located in the historic Loma Linda district of Downtown Phoenix, is constructed next to the first Vali home on the same infill lot. VALI continues to perfect its cost-effective green building techniques in its second home utilizinginsulation and passive house designto keep this home beyond energy efficient – allowing it to create more energy than it consumes. The east and west exposure of the home is limitedwhile a stylish 4-foot overhang shades the southern exposure. Biomimicry one-inch thick custom st... More

White Arkitekter’s entry, ‘The Eyes of Runavik’, has won the Nordic Built Cities competition in the category Vertical Challenge. The winner was announced on 16th June, in Helsinki, Finland. Departing from the same local climatic and geological conditions that challenge it, the design reveals a new and sustainable residential area in the Faroe Islands with the traditional local farming and settlement modes as the source of inspiration. Steep terrains with views over fjords and islands, strong winds, geothermal heat, basalt rock and sheep wool are some of the elements which have been carefully considered when designing the project ‘The Eyes of Runavik’. The jury from this initiative - by Nordic Innovation, the Nordic governments and the No... More

In the middle of Frankfurt´s Nordend district, this new residential block was built to passive house standards on the site of a former Naxos-Union factory. Retaining and integrating the distinctive trees along Wingertstrasse was an important part of the design considerations: the comb-like structure of the complex on this side, with its broad area of green in front of the apartments, is a direct response to this situation. The private gardens of the ground-floor apartments are located in the five courtyards. The back of the complex is oriented towards the listed Naxoshalle, the last remaining relic from the site´s former industrial use. On the corner of Wingertstrasse and Wittelsbacherallee the block is finished off conventionally with a co... More

Turing an old dilapidated former pub into a family dwelling fit for the changing needs required by the busy modern city living required a different approach to the restructuring of the living spaces throughout the five storey building in London Chiswick. The clients are two very creative individuals who live in the house with their two children. A grey base colour, chosen for the whole house – inside and outside – provides a ‘neutral’ tone against a series of coloured rooms and plywood interventions are set. The red library, designed for a set of book folios and a collection of old 78 records forms the heart of the house. Plywood objects serve as banisters, storage space, or sets to play with. Spaces are not designed for a specific functi... More

1. Sustainability idea The G-M house is located in the South-Eastern extremity of Italy , and it is surrounded by the green typical olive trees and the blue Mediterranean Sea. The project is based on the principles of bioclimatic architecture, and green building, through the perfect integration of architecture, landscape and microclimatic comfort. (consume less for a better life !!!). The new building was designed as if it had been in this place "....all along " , inspired by the concept "architecture without architects ": more specifically the project aims to link the technological and typological characteristics of the building with the climatic characteristics of the site and the use of renewable energy resources, recovering the ancient... More

These building materials are working hard for the environment. Cork, an unconventional building material in the United States, has been used in other parts of the world for centuries due to its long-term durability and carbon negative properties. The low maintenance 3-inch thick cork panels never have to be painted, stained or treated and provide additional insulation. As if that isn’t compelling enough, cork is also one of the only materials on earth that can be submerged in liquid for centuries without rotting, making it virtually immune to the Pacific Northwest’s damp climate. Environmentally conscious decisions were made throughout the material selection process, from the 85% recycled countertops from local supplier, NovuStone, to the 7... More