Passive House Builder Certification!

Two members of our Design team are now Passive House Certified Builders by the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS)!

Roussa Cassel, PHIUS Certified Builder℠ and Owen Martin, PHIUS Certified Builder℠

Owen and Roussa join only 24 other PHIUS Certified Builders in Washington State.  Their dedication to ultra energy efficient architecture is completely worth cheering about.  

Three cheers for these two!

What Is Passive House?   

Passive House is a revolutionary, and voluntary, performance-based building standard.  It demands passing measurable performance based tests to be certified.

 A Passive House means:

• • Extreme energy efficiency.  Are you interested in NetZero?  Passive House’s minimal energy demands make getting to zero-energy a can-do reality.         
  • Comfort.  With a consistent indoor temperature around 72°F all year long, it’s sigh-worthy dreamy during these annual summer heat waves.  And it’s quiet comfort.  No large, noisy, and expensive mechanical heating and cooling systems are needed.    
  • Healthy indoor air.   A balanced ventilation system quietly delivers fresh filtered air while cycling out stale and humid air.  More and more evidence points to the importance of indoor air quality for personal health, and Passive House delivers.
  • Building science backed awesomeness.  We humans accomplish some amazing feats (we have a satellite in interstellar space).  It stands to reason that we can leverage our feats of science to build a better building.  We can; we have.  

Passive House is a proven building science that reduces energy dependence and increases comfort and quality of life.       

What Does It Take?

It takes knowledge, skill and dedication throughout design and construction to meets the rigorous Passive House energy efficiency, air quality and comfort standards.

As you may have noticed, most buildings (new or otherwise) do not exhibit these results.  

In fact, most buildings require extreme energy dependance (or generation) to be comfortable year round.  We only notice when it’s time to pay the bills, or when things get rough, like your heater malfunctions in the middle of a cold-snap.

A successful Passive House needs a solar and shade site study, meticulous scrutiny of potential thermal bridges and heat sources throughout design, exhaustive computer modeling to stress test the design in dynamic environmental conditions, and detail oriented construction techniques to ensure the building’s envelope is appropriately sealed to make it all work.  And I’m understating things here.

The thing is, we know it works.  We have designed and built more Passive House homes than any firm in the Pacific Northwest.  

Experience says:  we can design and build you a revolution in indoor quality and comfort.  

Which is why we take our continuing education so seriously.  You honor us with your hopes and dreams.  We honor your hopes and dreams with our applied expertise.

What Does PHIUS Certified Builder Mean?

It means you successfully demonstrate knowledge and application of the most stringent energy efficiency building standard in the world.  

Education in Passive House theory and technique is a must, and full certification is only earned after passing a rigorous exam.  For example, a successful tester must problem solve potential design or material flaws that could ruin a building’s performance, cover specific quality control checks for a balanced ventilation system based on regional weather and building size, and draw a Passive House wall system for a single family home in a specific climate.    

Our Design Team Are Certified Passive House Builders?

Yes.  We are a Design+Build firm, and investing in our continuing education feels right, and has a strong practical value for us, and you.

We find that building experts who understand the “why” behind a design can problem solve in ways that yield better buildings, with a greater economy of materials and time.  Our Principles, Randy Foster and Tessa Smith, are both licensed contractors and Certified Passive House Consultants.  Well...Tessa is also an architect.   

Roussa and Owen work on residential and commercial designs.  Their training in Passive House construction techniques increases our early design buildability, which decreases costly trips back to the drawing board.

The joyful creation of your amazing space, on-budget and on-time is the steady pulse of our Design+Build firm.  By bringing together a team of expert designers and builders from Day 1, we keep your custom needs and wants at the heart of our work together.

Our education and experience ensures your important project benefits from cutting edge building science and cross discipline understanding.

In short, because we invest in ourselves we build better, waste less, and take less time.  This translates directly into higher quality craft with time and cost savings, for you.

Congratulations Owen & Roussa!

As the Passive House Institute US says, they “have committed themselves to design excellence and the passive house energy performance and quality criteria.”

You are totally awesome.

Cheers!