Project

Seeing a rising demand for sustainable housing, along with rising carbon emissions leading to global warming, this house strives to show that sensible, good design can create spaces adequate for today’s housing demands while adhering to strict energy standards. The house was designed to meet the very rigid Passive House rating system – 80% more efficient than a typical home in the area.

Face windows south, high volume to surface ratio, blend into the hillside — these were the three basic criteria that went into the home design. The home is broken up into two masses which steps up the hillside and are rotated to create an entry / circulation point. The roof pitches are steeper at 4” per 12” facing south and 2” per 12” facing north, thus allowing for future PV / Solar panels. The home is clad in Hot Rolled steel sheets.

The envelope design is critical to the success of any Passiv Haus building. Minimizing heat loss through high performance windows, insulation, air infiltration and thermal bridging is carefully detailed and performed. This project had such extreme conditions because of its location at 7000 above sea level that it is one of the most insulated and efficient houses in the state. The roof has an insulation value of R-91, or U-0.011. The walls are 16” thick with a value of R-62.5, or U-0.16. There is 8” EPS foam around the foundation and 12” under the thermally isolated heated concrete slab.