SAB HOMES 2 | Kitsilano Passiv Haus
Character home rebuilt with “passive house” construction delivers big energy performance
by Oscar Flechas
While there is a lot of talk about reducing fossil fuel consumption to mitigate climate change, the reality is that conservation measures are roughly proportional to the price that consumers pay for energy. So it is not surprising that in Europe, where energy can cost about four times as much as it does in Canada, that energy conservation standards for houses are far more stringent than ours.
Among the strictest is the European Passive House standard that requires a house to use no more than 1.4 kilowatt hours [KWH] per square foot of energy per year for space heating and cooling – about 1/8 that of a new Canadian house in a similar climate zone.
To achieve this level of performance, the building form must be simple and compact, the windows sized and oriented for maximum solar gain, and the entire building be super-insulated and tightly sealed against heat loss. This level of performance requires an attention to design and construction details that goes beyond current best practice standards in Canada.
Our objective was to test this design approach against local market conditions – renovating and rebuilding a 1906 vintage home on a tight urban site within the strict heritage design guidelines in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. The 2300sf house includes a 2-bedroom basement suite, living, dining, and kitchen and guest bedroom on the main floor, and two further bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
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Credits
- Owner Sandra Leznoff and Robert Malczyk
- Architect Oscar Flechas, MAIBC MRAIC LEED®AP, Flechas Architectural
- Structural Consultant Robert Malczyk P.Eng., Equilibrium Consulting
- Contractor Marcel Studer, Econ Group
- Energy Consultant Dr. Guido Wimmers Dipl.Ing. LEED®AP, Equilibrium Consulting
Materials
- Construction Glulam frame and engineered wood floor system; triple-glazed thermally broken wood frame windows
- Insulation Roxul mineral wool board exterior insulation and Roxul cavity batt insulation
- Exterior solar roof panels, composite wood exterior decking, stucco siding
- Interior engineered hardwood flooring, paint by Benjamin Moore, heat recovery ventilation system, wall-hung toilets
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