Smart Affordable Housing through Passive House & Habitat for Humanity

Builders and developers, whether public or private, can learn from the success of Columbia County NY Habitat for Humanity, which uses Passive House methods to provide high-quality, healthy, and affordable housing. Key lessons include strategic site planning, envelope assemblies and details friendly to unskilled labor, and keeping to budget while coping with design changes, building code variations, fluctuating costs and availability of materials, and evolving Passive House standards. This session will provide case studies and lessons learned from Habitat for Humanity’s collaboration with local design and building professionals – a model for affordable housing throughout the Northeast.

Session Chair(s): 

Event Time: 

Thursday, August 13, 2020 - 11:00am to 12:00pm

Room / Location:
Marina I

Experience Level: 

1 (no prior experience/knowledge needed)

CEU Information: 

AIA 1.0 LU/HSW
MA CSL 1.0 hour, Energy
PHI 1.0 credit

Learning Objectives:

  • Use strategies for site selection, site planning and massing techniques that reduce owner costs while simultaneously boosting Passive House performance
  • Select envelope assemblies and details that are favorable for unskilled labor and discuss the impacts they have on the project
  • Analyze the economics of the series of projects and discuss the magnitude of impact on design changes, site variations, building code variations, Passive House standard development and Building material costs and availability
  • Discuss ways that the model developed by Habitat for Humanity can adapt to accommodate private development models

Session ID: 

BOS20-218