INTRODUCTION

Passive House design creates homes and buildings that are better for people and the planet. Designing for net zero doesn’t require a sacrifice of sophistication, simplicity, or comfort. Rather, high performance design has given us some of the most elegant, contextual and contemporary living spaces in the world.

THE 4 PRINCIPLES OF PASSIVE HOUSE

Thermal Control

Thermal control helps keep the inside warmer when it's cold outside, and cooler when it's hot outside ⁠— to maximize comfort and energy efficiency.

High-Performance Enclosure
Continuous insulation throughout the entire building enclosure helps to reduce a buildings heating and cooling needs and improves comfort.

Thermal Bridge Elimination
Thoughtful, thermal-bridge-free enclosure design eliminates "cold corners," minimizes risk of mold growth on the interior, and improves comfort.

Air Control

Passive buildings achieve air control by air sealing the enclosure and then providing balanced, mechanical ventilation to achieve superior indoor air quality.

Airtightness
Airtightness is cornerstone to passive building design for both durability of the enclosure as well as energy savings achieved by minimizing infiltration of outside air and loss of conditioned air.

Balanced Ventilation with Heat & Moisture Recovery
With an airtight enclosure, continuous, balanced ventilation is absolutely critical to indoor air quality (IAQ). Passive buildings continually exhaust stale air from bathrooms, kitchens and areas with stale air and supply fresh air to living and working spaces.

Radiation Control

Controlling solar radiation is key for optimized design and preventing overheating in passive buildings. Phius-optimized buildings balance solar radiation — taking advantage of it when needed and shading when not to lighten the cooling load and maximize energy efficiency.

High Performance Glazing
Passive buildings employ high-performance windows (double- or triple-paned windows depending on climate and building type) and doors with additional focus on proper solar heat gain and orientation in design.

Shading and Daylighting
Appropriate shading strategies exploit the sun's energy in the heating season and minimize overheating during the cooling season. Daylighting can be a critical passive strategy to reducing lighting loads in non-residential buildings and improving indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

Moisture Control

Passive buildings require special attention to moisture control both in proper vapor and moisture control design for the enclosure as well as the mechanical systems needed to maintain appropriate moisture levels in the space.

Material Moisture
High performance enclosures in passive buildings require attention to detail when it comes to appropriate vapor control design.

Air Humidity
Proper mechanical system selection and commissioning is critical to maintaining comfortable and safe moisture levels inside passive buildings.

PASSIVE HOUSE BENEFITS

Unmatched Comfort

Superinsulation and airtight construction means you're always comfortable, no matter the weather outside.

A Healthy Environment

Breathe continuously ventilated, filtered air. Reduce contaminants. Prevent mold.

Undeniable Value

Large buildings can achieve certification more easily thanks to efficiencies of scale, and carry lower cost premiums than smaller ones.

Resilient, Durable Structures

Phius' comprehensive approach to design, construction and quality assurance results in buildings that are resilient and built to last.

Peaceful, Quiet Spaces

Being in a Phius building is like driving a luxury car: outside noise is nearly non-existent.

The Fastest Track to Zero

Passive building principles offer to best path to net zero and net positive buildings, because they are built correctly from the start, reducing the renewables load.

SUSTAINABILITY

We believe in sustainable, responsible design and use local materials whenever possible. By doing so, we play our part in reducing the impact on the environment and making the most of available resources that make financial sense.
Building to the Phius standard costs only 3-5% more than conventional building methods
Phius-Certified buildings Perform up to 85% better than conventional buildings

PlanH received Passive House Certification from the Passive House Institute in 2021.

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