Trends New Zealand NZ New Home Trends Vol. 30/10 | Page 64

Raising the benchmark
From the 32 photovoltaic panels to the airtight, highly insulated building shell,
sustainability is taken to a whole new level with this house, designed to
German Passivhaus standard – and an 8 Homestar design rating
Above: Energy bills are nonexistent
for the owners of this new home.
The house was designed to meet
German Passivhaus standard and
generates its own electricity from
photovoltaic cells on the roof. The
building shell is airtight and features
extra high-value insulation. Windows
can be opened to benefit from cross
ventilation in summer. The owners
are currently driving a Mitsubishi
Outlander Plug-In Hybrid SUV,
which is powered by the electricity
generated by the photovoltaic cells.

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Every new home built today has to meet a raft
of criteria aimed at increasing energy efficiency
and creating a healthy living environment. But
how much more can be achieved when the
concept of sustainability is pushed even further?
That is precisely what the team behind the
design of this new house set out to discover.
Homeowners Murray and Lee Ann Durbin
commissioned architect Stephen Smith of
S3 Architects to design their new family home
to be certified under the German Passivhaus
standard. The Ideal House, as it is known, was
also designed to achieve an 8 Homestar rating.

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Smith says he worked in conjunction with
structural engineer Paula Hugens from eZED,
a company that undertakes thermal modelling
with a focus on low- or zero-energy projects.
“The rationale behind a Passivhaus is to
have a completely airtight construction with
very high insulation values,” Smith says. “The
airtightness can be measured with a Blower
Door that pumps air into and out of the home.
This has been recorded at 0.45 air changes per
hour at 50 pascals of pressure, which is well
under the 0.6 level requirem