This month we’re sharing our favourite passive houses. Compiling a list of stunning, passive house homes we love would have been easy but we wanted a challenge. So instead we’re sharing our favourite non-domestic passive houses to show that the standard isn’t just about creating low-energy, comfortable and healthy homes. We hope our selection gives you a taste of what else passive house can achieve.
llwerke Zentrum Montafon, Rodund – Hermann Kaufmann
The Illwerke Zentrum Montafon (IZM) in Rodund by Hermann Kaufmann is an amazing timber structure; with a usable floor area of over 10,000 m2.. When it was built it was the largest timber office building in Central Europe. It was assembled in just six weeks. It’s a structurally impressive as it is low energy and comfortable. [Paul]
Community Centre, Paris – Guillaume Ramillien
I like the “less is more” vibe in this design and I am really impressed to see that a council commissioned a low-energy building, giving me hope for the future! [Julie]
No 3. Rayns Way, Leicester – CPMG Architects
I think this building perfectly demonstrates the benefits of adopting Passivhaus as a business. Not only have energy costs dropped from £23k/year to £1.5k/year credit but there has been a reduction in staff sickness by 13%. Clearly Passivhaus helps to create an environment where people want to come to work and I’m looking forward to the day when Paul Testa Architecture will be able to build its own Passivhaus certified office. [Al]
Wilkinson Primary School, Wolverhampton – Architype
Discovering this project has actually been my initial introduction to the basic principles and demands of the rigorous Passivhaus design standard, outside of smaller, domestic based schemes. To see these ideas stretched and expanded in an effort to develop a project of such a scale, as well as it having been considered a success (after having to satisfy 420 pupils…) got me on board to try and further understand Passivhaus as a design tool! [Liam]