Lighting Design In A Passive House
A lot more of our clients are choosing to build a Passivhaus - which literally translates as “Passive House”, and is a German approach to home design that uses a combination of high-performance glazing, insulation and an airtight building envelope to regulate a home’s internal temperature without relying on artificial heating or cooling.
What is Passivhaus?
Can you imagine living in a home that keeps you warm and cosy all winter, without running the heater 24/7? Can you imagine a home that stays cool and comfortable even in the tropical midsummer heat? A home that’s quiet, free of draughts, mould and dust, costs very little to run and reduces your carbon footprint?
This is what Passivhaus design can achieve, and it’s something that more and more Australian architects and builders are becoming accredited in. Some experts say this innovative – yet achievable – design and construct methodology represents the future of sustainable housing.
Get it?…..NO, well you will after you watch the video below ‘’Passive House Explained in 90 sec”
OK…..so now you’ve got it?
At MINT the key focus in our lighting design for a passive house - is to minimise energy consumption throughout the home….this is achieved by effective selection of LED luminaires [light fittings], and by avoiding downlights and recessed lighting - WHY’s that?…so as not to impact on the building envelope and reduce the thermal integrity of the home.
Even for our traditional home builds - we often implement passive house principles in our lighting designs, to achieve greater energy efficiency and therefore considerable savings on electricity bills.
It’s certainly creates food for thought….especially when you consider and compare European Passive House stats - a small increase in upfront costs to build a home (5 per cent) people on average have enjoyed 90 per cent savings on their energy bills in subsequent years. In Australia, due to our lower temperature differentials, it is even easier to achieve the passive house standard and the cost premium is between 0-3 per cent - give or take
Check out Australian Passive House Association and its vision to see “all Australians live and work in healthy, comfortable, low energy, resilient buildings”.
And if you need help with your Lighting Design - call our studio….03 9555 2275
MINT is an independent, full service architectural lighting design practice – We specialise in lighting Homes around Australia - as your Lighting Design Consultation can be at your home, our Studio or over the phone.
We begin all our projects with a Consultation, where we work together with you to develop the concept for the lighting in your home. Where the light should be, what it should do and how it might behave.
*We are independent designers, not affiliated with any lighting suppliers. We select light fittings to specify based on their performance and quality, from a wide range of different locally based suppliers.
via Arch Daily
References - Australian Passive House Association, The Fifth Estate, Houzz and Domain