This month we are excited to have been commissioned to bring to life two new bespoke Passivhaus homes. 150 miles apart, both are replacement dwellings and both have lovely clients, but they each present a completely different set of challenges to solve, which will showcase the diversity and breath of what we at Habitat+ Architects can achieve.
This first is a blank canvas, a dwelling in a beautiful semi-rural Conservation Area in Leicestershire. With our Creative Feasibility we are looking forward to showing our clients how we balance the opportunities and constraints of the site and project - the aspect, views, ecology, budget, planning constraints, Passivhaus principles and their ambitions and desires - through a design-led approach to create an exciting low energy home with wow-factor.
The second, in urban Purley, is a different challenge, as our clients have a consent for a replacement dwelling, but one which didn’t consider a low energy approach in its consent. Here we look forward to demonstrating how we can enhance the design by adjusting the fabric and windows to find that balance between heat loss, solar gain and views, evolve the layout of the proposal to reduce inefficiencies and consider how best to build in to the gradient economically and practically. In short, reduce the capital and operational cost without compromising the spaces, and enhance the design using the existing consent as a fall back position.
While it’s great to be involved from the start of a project and work with the clients to get develop their brief and strategy, our skills as designers, and in particular Tom Locke’s as a Certified Passivhaus Designer, mean we can enhance and add value to any project, whatever stage it is at, both it its appearance and comfort, or in reducing its embodied or operational energy cost.
We’re great at using design to achieve planning consent on difficult sites, experts in low energy buildings (new or retrofit) and most importantly we work with our clients to help them make informed decisions to achieve what they want, whether they know their aspirations or not.
If you’re considering a new or retrofit building project, then please get in touch.
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@passivhaustrust