We are proud to announce that our Passive Warehouse, Jones, has been featured in Sanctuary Magazine.
As our first foray into Passive House certifications, we are proud to present an excerpt from the article:
“One of the hardest parts about Passive House,” says Antony, “is that it doesn’t tell you how to do it; it outlines the principles and it’s up to each architect to apply those principles.”
One of the key principles is air- tightness, to create a building where every kilowatt-hour of energy is retained for as long as possible. Applied to this warehouse, this meant an airtight layer on the inside, whole-building wrap-around barrier with bulk insulation and a weather- protection layer. Areas that receive solar gain were protected with an additional layer of reflective foil. It also required close attention to thermal bridges and sealing those pesky air leaks around doors, windows and even power points.
The house features high-quality, triple- glazed European-style windows and a heat- recovery unit that maintains a continuous, controlled supply of fresh air. In designing this, the team at DiMase Architects received advice from Peter Steudle of Passive House.
Passivhaus is more popular in Europe, where an estimated 25,000 certified houses have been built, but in Australia, sustainably minded architects tend to employ passive solar design principles. But is that just because passive solar is better understood here, and which approach – Passive House or passive solar design – is more appropriate to Australian conditions?
Antony recommends homeowners and architects look to the project to decide which approach should be applied. Inner- city sites with limited solar aspect may suit Passive House, while new homes on ample land might suit passive solar design, he suggests, but “the two systems aren’t mutually exclusive”. The warehouse is designed for air-tightness, but it can still be opened up on a gorgeous spring day, be shaded from summer heat and benefit from winter solar gain.
If you do decide to go down the Passive House route, Antony recommends getting started early so the principles can “filter through the project”. “This is not the sort of thing you should decide to do midway through,” he cautions. He also suggests enlisting the support of a specialist consultant to help guide the project.
While successfully applying Passive House principles to this 7 Star rated warehouse conversion has been rewarding, to Antony the home’s environmental performance is just one part of its sustainability story.
“It’s a refurbishment and reuse of an existing building, and I think the environmental credentials of doing that are often underestimated.”
“Another thing I like about this house,” he adds, “is that it’s not engineer-driven, which many passive houses can be – it’s architecturally pleasing. The environmental features aren’t tapping you on the shoulder, they’re just there in the infrastructure for the long term.”
This delicate balance between good design and energy efficiency is also applied to the approach to certification. “The house wouldn’t necessarily achieve a full Passive House rating, partly because it’s a renovation and retrofit,” says John. The family’s motivation was to apply the principles in their ‘experimental’ home while refashioning it as a tailored ‘machine for living’, rather than seeking formal validation, so it hasn’t been submitted for certification. Achieving a 7 Star energy efficiency outcome was simply a welcome bonus, he says.
“We’re still learning how the house works,” John says. “It’s called Passive House, but it requires active residents in order to get the best out of it,” he laughed.