Passive house building with larch wood
The passivehouse is reached through a light wooden construction that closes the land towards the east and helps provide privacy. The highrising wooden slats on the sides of the roof terrace provide the family with an airy outdoor space for sunbathing, protected from view.
A wall opening round the corner leads you into the massively walled passive house cuboid. All necessary circulation in the house, runs along the massive back wall on the northside that has a high heat storage capacity. The groundfloor offers a generous space for a family life: a complete level dedicated to livingroom.
By Isabella Marboe (The Standard, 17 March 2007)
The clear compact volum of the house, turns its wide side towards the south, giving the windows a perfect solar orientation and thus presents the massive construction of the young family's passive house in Gerasdorf.
The architectonic ingredients include a wooden extension that protects the land from view from the adjacent street. The garage and the entrance are provided within this structure and on top of it lies a sun deck in a larch cover.
The designers have remained completely faithful to the strict outlines of the passive house institute in Darmstadt which has in return offered the house a passive house certification. On the other hand, the design has fullfilled all requirements of a climate-active passive house and has optimised all energetic and ecological aspects. Windows have been avoided on the north facade. The energy absorbing openings have been restricted to the south and west facades.
The facade, down to the basement is covered with a thich cloak of thermal insulation. The thermal envelope is completely resistant to humidity. Thermal brigdes have been over come by Purenit or
Sylomer separators or vacuum insulation.
The airconditioning system is fed by ground-pre-heated fresh air. It warms the house and provides warm water. There was no need for a fireplace. However, the thermal advantages of the building are not limited to winter. In summertime, with peak outside temperatures of about 40 degrees, the inside temperature rises only as high as a comfortable 24 degrees; ofcourse the sun protections outide the windows are constantly used by the inhabitants.
Nomination for the Lower-Austrian building award 2008
From the jury protocol:
The project presents a very compact double storeyed dwelling with passive house standards. Altogether, it manifests a very contemporary architectural expression and offers an energy-efficient alternative to the traditional single family dwelling.
Project management: D.I. Andreas Hradil
Building Physics: D.I.Dr.Gernot Scherpke
Passivehouse certification: IBO, Institute for building biology
Climate-active passivehouse with 905 points (out of 1000)
Photos: Andreas Buchberger