Passive House

I am excited to be starting the first phase of the Passive Haus Course. It's been a busy start to what is hopefully a good year.

I am constantly reminded that we need to be in a process of continual change. It requires me to put my Architectural student hat back on and be open to being challenged on old ideas and old ways.

Our buildings need to change here in New Zealand. Change is not something we as humans are good at. We crave the results it gives us, yet are reluctant to do the work required for it. So many sit back waiting for someone to show them the results. How often have we heard about paybacks on sustainable systems, knowing that we need more people to implement them to get that data.

Ironically we do our homework in far more detail regarding performance when purchasing a motor car than we do on purchasing a house.

Speaking to a building merchant the other day, he was grumbling about the price that the recent changes to the Energy Efficiency section of our New Zealand Building Code. I pointed out to him that prior to the increase New Zealands minimum standard (which most houses in NZ achieve on paper) meant that we are no longer specifying at 25% of other countries, such at the UK, which sits on the same longitude as New Zealand.

I am looking forward to taking my Architectural Design projects to a higher more sustainable level, building on the Homestar Designer Course which I completed last year.

Yes its about getting better at what I do, buts it's also sharing my learnings. I am looking forward to sharing some of those with you.