Passive House Design: Warm Temperate – Ben Caine, Leanhaus Architecture

How do you design a Passive House in Warm Temperate climates like Perth, Adelaide or Sydney?

In today's episode, I continue to investigate the design specifics for each of the four climate zones around Australia, where most of our population lives.

I talk to very experienced Passive House designer Ben Caine, the director of the award-winning practice Leanhaus Architecture in Perth. Ben’s architectural mission is to deliver well-thought-out, mindful, architectural homes to the passive house standard, at less cost than a typical architecturally designed home. Ben explains the Passive House design specifics for Warm Temperate, plus he shares ideas on cost savings and heaps of other information and insights from his years of experience to help you better understand Passive House.

Australian Architects can claim formal CPD hours for these podcasts.

MORE INFORMATION

Find everything you need on the Renovation Collaborative website.

www.renovationcollaborative.com.au

• PODCAST Key points summary, timestamps and resource links
• FREE RESOURCES Transcript edited into clear Q&A.
• CPD Australian architects can find more information on CPD, and
• COURSES Eleven easy to read courses demystifying the entire home design and construction process.

KEY POINT SUMMARY

1. Through his practice, Leanhaus Architecture, Ben delivers well-thought-out, mindful architectural homes to the passive house standard for a lower cost than a typical architecturally designed home. His practice proves that if you are open to finding efficiencies across design and construction, you can have a passive house or high-performance home without the additional cost.

2. Ben generally designs to the Passive House standard without going as far as certification for the simple reason that Passive House certification adds cost. However, it’s essential to note that during the first four years of Leanhaus Architecture, Ben and his team went to great lengths to model, test and optimize every design and understand the exact formula for success. They can now confidently deliver to the passive house standard without the extra cost.

3. The 5 Passive House design components for a Warm temperate climate are as follows:

• Windows are double-glazed and always operable. Windows should enable cross ventilation, purging any excess heat build-up, and connection to the outdoors to enjoy comfortable external temperatures during spring and autumn.
• The fresh air circulation system is an HRV
• Wall insulation can fit within a typical 90mm timber stud framed wall thickness. No under-slab insulation is required, but sometimes slab edges may require insulation.
• Only one layer of external wrapping is required; the vapour-permeable weatherproof membrane on the outside of the home is taped, sealed and made...