Passivhaus is a performance-based standard for buildings that stay comfortable year-round while using a fraction of the energy of a typical home. It rests on five core principles, applied together.
Thick, continuous layers of insulation across walls, roof and floor dramatically reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer — the single biggest factor in a building's comfort and energy use.
A continuous, carefully-detailed air barrier stops uncontrolled draughts and heat loss through gaps and junctions — verified on site with a pressure test rather than assumed on paper.
Junctions between elements — walls, roofs, floors, windows — are detailed so heat has no easy path through the structure, avoiding cold spots, condensation risk and unnecessary energy loss.
Triple-glazed, well-sealed windows and doors, positioned and sized for climate and orientation, let in daylight and useful solar gain without becoming the weak point in the building envelope.
Stale air is continuously extracted and replaced with filtered fresh air, recovering most of the heat from the outgoing air — delivering constant good air quality without opening a window.
Whether as your lead designer or as Passivhaus consultant to your project architect, we combine these five principles with PHPP modelling to take a project from concept through to Passivhaus certification.
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