PASSIVE HOUSE INSTITUTE US

Slowly, an awareness is emerging that historical global variation in the built environment was brilliantly fine-tuned to the eco-environmental pattern of that place. Structures were designed to reflect the unique climate of that area. They reflected a profound need to be resource effective in a world of otherwise limited materials and energy. Buildings were placed in close proximity so as to accommodate pedestrians and animal-powered transportation. Structures reflected culture. Where our ancestors’ developments succeeded in perpetually regenerating their socio-ecological web of life, we can claim they achieved what Bjarke Ingels calls “pragmatic utopianism” (Ingels 2015). And they did so with a relatively low carbon and energy footprint.

There is no longer a debate that we must create built environments that are extremely low in energy use and greenhouse gas contribution.  We increasingly understand how the current built environment is deleterious to human and environmental health. Where we struggle is how to create regenerative systems and structures that perpetually rejuvenate life, in light of a global population exceeding 7.3 billion people.

A few years ago, Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS) took a bold step: They were the first institute to develop a tool for creating very high-performance buildings from climate-based design. As a performance-based metric, the aim was to further reduce energy, carbon, and resources by building to the specifications of that climate. As a research institute, they have perpetually incorporated leading-edge building science into developing what many see as the most advanced building standard in the world.

Ingels, Bjarke. 2015. Hot to Cold: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation. New York, NY: Taschen.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/mk_page_section]