Passive House

The Passive House standard originated in Germany in the early 1990s, developed by physicist Wolfgang Feist and Swedish professor Bo Adamson. Their first Passive House project in Darmstadt, completed in 1991, demonstrated that a building could maintain comfortable temperatures year-round with minimal active heating or cooling. The standard has since been adopted worldwide, with tens of thousands of certified buildings across Europe, North America, and beyond. The core principle is remarkably straightforward: reduce energy demand so dramatically through envelope performance that only a tiny fraction of conventional heating and cooling is needed. Achieving Passive House certification requires meeting strict performance targets, including a maximum heating and cooling demand of 15 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year and an airtightness result of no more than 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals of pressure. In practice, this translates to superinsulated walls, triple-glazed windows carefully positioned for solar gain, airtight construction verified by blower door testing, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery that captures up to 90 percent of outgoing thermal energy. For interior designers, working within a Passive House means embracing the inherent comfort of stable temperatures, excellent air quality, and virtually silent interiors free from drafts and cold spots.