“Good design is sustainable, great design is responsible.”

– Richard Wittschiebe

As a climate conscious team we try to not only bring into focus our clients’ current needs but also the future sustainability of the building itself. On this project, we partnered with the architect-owners to use their Passive Solar designs to construct homes that can efficiently heat and cool with little to no energy consumption.

Passive Solar utilizes many of the benefits of solar energy without a lot of the mechanical and electrical systems required for traditional solar energy systems. With Passive Solar heating, the living space acts as the solar collector. Careful placement of the windows creates ample sun-heated air in the house that can be moved in predictable patterns through the placement of design elements, proper material choices, and mechanical air circulation.

Passive Solar cooling can be achieved by the proper orientation of the building along with architectural elements like louvers and roofs to block unwanted solar gain during the summer months. Additional cooling can be achieved with a combination of thermal insulating building materials, forced air movement and natural heat sinks like cool air, wind, and soil. With a well planned design you can augment this process with correct window placements that enable the coordinating materials to absorb heat during the day and dissipate it throughout the space at night.