sustainable.TO is extremely proud to again be the Presenting Sponsor for the two thousand & twelve SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AWARDS

Prizes are awarded to the OCADU students who best display excellence in an ecologically-sustainable & socially-conscious design project during the 2011-12 academic year.

Juried by an International Expert Panel + Peer Voting for a Student-Choice Award Reception - April 20th, 2012

www.sustainabledesignaward.ca

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For immediate release

Canadian firm sustainable.TO Architecture + Building takes top prize in international Passive House design competition

(Toronto, Ontario) Canadian firm sustainable.TO Architecture + Building has taken the top prize in an international competition to design a Passive House for New Orleans, Paul Dowsett, sustainable.TO principal, announced today. Acclaimed as "an incredibly thoughtful and viable response to this challenge," sustainable.TO's "Low Cost, Low Energy House" was selected from 65 entries from around the world. The competition was launched by the ArchDaily website and DesignByMany, a challenge-based design technology community.

"Winning this award is hugely exciting," said Dowsett, "confirming that it is possible to design an affordable and sustainable house that is also attractive -- no matter the climate -- and validates our approach to design and construction."

The competition challenged both students and professionals to design a passive house for hot and humid New Orleans focusing on key components of The Passive House Standard and the 2030 Challenge, which has influenced the Better Buildings Initiative issued by US President Obama. Submissions came from Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the UK and the US. According to the Canadian Passive House Institute, the Passive House Standard is "the world's most ambitious and scientifically verified route to truly sustainable buildings, achieving 80 - 90% energy savings over conventional construction." Originating in Germany and Sweden, today there are over 25,000 single and multi-family passive houses worldwide.

About the winning design

"Low Cost, Low Energy House" features an airtight, thermal-bridge free and super-insulated envelope combined with passive shading in the summer and solar heat gains in winter; concrete floor topping for thermal mass to radiate the heat into the space as required; highly reflective galvalume wall and roof cladding; a balanced energy recovery ventilation system and split-zoned high-efficiency heating and cooling units with an ultra high-efficiency on-demand water heater and supplemental radiant floor heating. The use of low-cost, durable and long-lasting materials, and proven construction techniques assures value to returning homeowners.

In accordance with post-Katrina building codes, guidelines and best practices, the house is raised 7 feet above grade, securing its safety during flooding and providing shaded parking, storage, and outdoor living spaces.

"Low Cost, Low Energy House" is not the first design by Dowsett using the principles of The Passive House Standard. Previously, as a principal at Scott Morris Architects Inc., he was also responsible for two off-grid, passive solar houses in Ontario (the Hunter House and Frog's Hollow).

About the judges

"Low Cost, Low Energy House" was chosen by a select group of judges, including: David Basulto, co-founder of ArchDaily; Katrin Klingenberg, co-founder the Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS); Alejandra Lillo, co-founder of Undisclosable Design; Corey Saft, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; and Trey Trahan, FAIA, President and Principal-in-Charge of Trahan Architects.

About sustainable.TO Architecture + Building

Founded in 2009 by entrepreneur David Daniels and architect Paul Dowsett, sustainable.TO Architecture + Building draws on Dowsett's two decades of "green" design. The company sees clearly through the dense fog of technologies, products and philosophies to provide realistic, achievable and affordable resource and energy-efficient design /build solutions for home and workplace.

www.sustainable.TO

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Note: Digital images are available.

For further information, please contact:

Anne O'Hagan

aoh@rogers.com

+1 416.566.6516

We always like to keep things exciting here at sustainable.TO, and this one was close right down to the end:

Voting for the New Orleans Passive House contest, hosted by DesignByMany, was open for a few weeks. Readers and architecture enthusiasts from around the globe had opportunities to view and vote on their favourite projects. To the voters, family, and friends close to home: thanks so much for your support!

While our project received plenty of positive feedback (one competitor even commented that he liked our entry better than his) we unfortunately were not ranked in the top ten when public voting closed a couple of days ago. Nevertheless, judges at DesignByMany chose our project, along with a few others, as one of their favourites to also be considered for the top prize in the final round of judging. Our project (see the full brief) was such a hit with all of the judges that we were named the winner this morning! Check out the full press release.

Congrats to the team, all the other competition finalists, and DesignByMany for hosting such a great competition.

http://www.arc.ulaval.ca/a-propos/50e/concours-50e.html

Low Cost, Low Energy House

A Passive House for New Orleans

Hosted by Design By Many, the Passive House for New Orleans competition challenges designers to design a single-family dwelling that is sustainable in the broadest sense of the term:

affordable to build and purchase, long-lasting, with minimal impact on the local environment, and affordable to heat and cool throughout the life of the building. Competition requirements included:

• Homes should meet post-Katrina building codes, guidelines and best practices
• Homes should be shotgun typology and strive to create cohesive neighbourhoods
• Program - 1000 sq. ft. treated floor area to include (2) bedrooms, (1) full bath, (1) half bath or 1250 sq. ft. treated floor area to include (3) bedrooms, (2) full baths
• First floor elevation - +5' above grade
• Design should strive to achieve Passive House Standard:
  • Airtight building shell < 0.6 ACH @ 50 pascal pressure (simple, well-detailed construction
  • Annual heating and cooling requirement < 15 kWh/m2/year
  • Primary Energy < 120 kWh/m2/year

Before beginning to design, we researched traditional New Orleans residential architecture: shotgun houses. This style of residence surged in popularity in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War through to the 1920s. Typically, the rooms of the house would be aligned in a row, with no hallways - one would walk from one end of the house to the other by going through each of the rooms.

Shotgun houses are typically made from wood frame construction with wood siding. High ceilings and a lack of hallways allow for efficient cross-ventilation and cooling in each room. Variations of the conventional shotgun style have emerged to meet additional needs. A camelback shotgun house has a partial second storey at the back; a north shore shotgun house has a porch that wraps around three sides, and a double-barrel shotgun is two shotgun houses side by side, sharing a central wall.

Our final design emerged from the results of a good ole-fashion design-off! We each worked on separate designs for a few days and then presented them. As expected, certain features were admired in each design and they were pieced together to form our final product.

Preliminary design sketches

Based on the vernacular shotgun typology, the affordable, low-energy, single-family Low Cost/Low Energy House will help to revitalize the existing neighbourhood of the Lower Ninth Ward.

View from southwest

The house reinterprets a traditional shotgun-style plan by mirroring two bedroom and bathroom units on either side of the main living space. The open living plan optimizes natural air flow and daylighting. The corridor opens southward to a flexible cantilevered side gallery that wraps around the house, providing shaded outdoor living space, similar to that of a north shore shotgun style. The flexible boundary between the corridor and gallery can adapt to the changing needs of the family throughout the seasons.

View down corridor

Organized linearly along a circulation corridor, the long axis of the house runs East/West. This organization addresses strategies of natural ventilation, daylighting, shading and solar heat gain. The south facade's deep roof overhang provides passive solar protection for the building's interior in the summer, while allowing passive solar heat gain in the winter. Sliding panels on the south facade offer flexibility and protection from the sun, rain and wind when required. Windows on the north facade provide abundant daylight and natural ventilation while limiting solar heat gain. If required for a North/South long-axis orientation, the facade with the large sliding panels would be the West facade, achieving many of the same benefits as the optimal southern exposure.

View down gallery

When designing this house, we employed a number of different strategies to achieve the Passive House Standard:

• Highly reflective, recyclable galvalume cladding minimizes solar heat gain in the summer and provides a lasting 'lifetime' material.
• Deep overhangs on the south are calculated to provide passive solar protection for the building's interior and sheltered outdoor space, reducing inside cooling needs. The overhang is also calculated to allow passive solar heat gain in winter. Openings on the east and west are also protected by overhangs. The north side is flat and exposed, increasing daylighting with a minimum solar heat gain.
• Windows on opposite sides of rooms for cross ventilation and natural cooling. The high sloped ceilings induce air flow, allowing hot stale air to escape through operable vents.
• Large sliding horizontal slat panels at the South facade acts as rain, sun and privacy screens while allowing daylight and air through.
• Operable tilt and turn Pazen-manufactured windows are fiberglass wood clad, triple-glazed and thermally broken.
• All exterior walls have a minimum R-47 envelope. Roxul insulation is made from recycled mineral slag, an industrial waste material providing high thermal resistance and is moisture, mould, and fire-resistant.

Additionally,

• Two UltimateAir RecoupAerator Energy Recovery Units exchange stale air with clean fresh air, providing ventilation and air filtration. Return air pathway grilles and baffles located in the bedroom closets and washroom doors allow for the movement of air from the bedroom and living space to washrooms for extraction. Split-zoned Misubishi Electric M-Series ductless heating and cooling units located above the washrooms are energy-efficient and allow each indoor zone to operate individually.
• Reversible ceiling fans in all private and public spaces manage rising convective heat in booth summer and winter reducing air conditioning needs.
• Compliant to post-Katrina building codes, guidelines and best practices, the structures is raised 7 feet above grade. This ensures security in case of flooding and allows air to circulate under the building. Additionally, this provides shaded living and parking spaces. Pier foundations minimizes disturbance to site.
• North facing windows allow abundant indirect daylight while limiting heat gain.
• Windows on opposite sides of rooms allow for cross ventilation and natural cooling, reducing air conditioning needs.
• Ultra high-efficiency on-demand water heaters in each of the washrooms reduce primary energy needs.
• Water-permeable driveway surface minimizes environmental impact to the site.
• Concrete floor topping provides thermal mass to absorb solar heat in the winter months and to re-radiate it into the space as required. Embedded hydronic heating also provides low-energy supplemental heating. The concrete floor is also beneficial during the summer as it is naturally cool.

To achieve Passive House Standard, this house employs an airtight, thermal-bridge free and super-insulated envelope combined with passive shading in summer and solar heat gains in winter; concrete floor topping for thermal mass to temper solar heat gain and to re-radiate the heat into the space as required; daylighting; natural ventilation and cooling; highly reflective self-venturing galvalume cladding; a balanced energy recovery ventilation system and split-zoned high-efficiency heating and cooling units with an ultra-high-efficiency on-demand hot water heater for domestic hot water and supplemental radiant floor heating. The use of low-cost, durable and long-lasting materials, and proven construction techniques assures value to returning homeowners. In accordance with post-Katrina build codes, guidelines and best practices, the house is raised 7 feet above grade, securing its safety during flooding and providing shaded parking, storage and outdoor living spaces. The high albedo, recyclable galvalume roof and wall cladding minimizes solar heat gain and provides a lasting 'lifetime' cladding material.

Sidenote: naming something is always a challenge, whether it is a baby or a building. This house was no exception. From many options including Clam House, C-Section, Shade House, PHNOSS (which stands for Passive House New Orleans Shotgun Style in case you didn't catch that), we opted to keep it simple and obvious with Low Cost/Low Energy House.