Passive House Informed: The Next Level of Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing

Bergsund DeLaney Architecture and Planning (BDA) designed an affordable housing community for St. Vincent DePaul Society of Lane County (SVdP) that included two six-unit buildings with identical floor plans and orientation, each constructed to a different sustainability standard: Passive House and Earth Advantage. Research groups from the University of Oregon School of Architecture (UO) conducted two studies, one that analyzed lifecycle decisions made in the early design process and another that monitored and analyzed energy use post-occupancy. All of the research conducted by the UO was made available to the project team for review and use. The research has proved valuable not only to validate and support the decisions made during the design and construction of the Passive House, but also to inform future building design. This paper presents a framework to review the strategies used in the two case study buildings and determine recommendations for Passive House informed construction.

keywords: Passive House, Affordable Housing, Energy Efficient Design, Research Collaboration