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Hilary Padget and Anthony Harrington are co-founders and partners at pHdesign, a New York-based architecture firm specializing in energy-efficient and environmentally responsible buildings. They strongly believe in the environmental and optimization side of Passive House and have developed a practical course for architecture students that shows how to incorporate it into their everyday design practice.
In this episode, we discuss pHdesign's client-led journey into Passive House, using and seeing Passive House as both a design tool and a backstop for discussions around why things are specified a certain way in a project, and how they embrace the ethos of Passive House in every project, whether it's going to be certified or not.
Connect with Hilary, Anthony, and pHdesign:
Norman Garcia is an engineer and principal building science consultant at AllClimate Passivhaus in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and the founder of Passivhaus Philippines. In addition to being a Certified Passive House Designer, Norman is also a Certified Passive House Construction Verifier and an accredited Passive House Course Provider.
In this episode, we officially launch Norman's 500 Filipino Passivhaus Challenge: training 500 Passivhaus professionals in the Philippines by 2040. We also talk about the Passivhaus benefits that are most relevant to the Philippines, what switching between the extreme cold of Winnipeg and the extreme heat and humidity of Manila has taught Norman, why he loves the "open source" nature of the Passivhaus community, and how much we both like EMU Passive!
Connect with Norman, AllClimate PH, and Passivhaus Philippines:
Rahul Shaw is the owner and principal architect at Tight House Architecture and Interior Design, specializing in single-family home renovations, additions, and new builds that go beyond the ordinary. Rahul started his own Passive House firm after years in the industry to pursue what he perceived as an obviously better way to solve problems like condensation and moisture in homes.
In this episode, we talk about the Passive House tenet that Rahul thinks is most important, where the name of his company came from, why spray foam is a terrible idea, the many different benefits of Passive House and which resonate with which demographics, and more.
Connect with Rahul and Tight House:
Michael Ingui is an artist and architect, as well as the president and a partner at Ingui Architecture, and a co-founder of both the Passive House Accelerator and Source 2050. Michael started the Accelerator because he saw how important it was to have a place to share ideas within the industry and community. He started Source 2050 to help increase the availability of high-performance building supplies.
In this episode, we talk about the next big hurdle that Passive House needs to get over (hint: it's marketing :), the critical importance of product availability if you don't want your contractor to use something other than what you specified, and the 3 things that will either let us scale Passive House the way we truly need to, or not.
Connect with Michael, Ingui Architecture, Passive House Accelerator, and Source 2050:
Josh Oqueli is an architect, builder, and the founder of Bonsai Design + Build, an architect-led firm specializing in high-performance buildings. A firm proponent of "once you learn it, you can't unlearn it," Josh went down the rabbit hole early in his career and has never looked back, leaving code-built standards firmly behind him.
In this episode, we talk about Josh's journey from biotecture to Passive House, why design-build is well-suited to high-performance projects, how adding an owner's rep service to their offerings has further streamlined the process for clients, and the benefits of having a Passive House office.
Connect with Josh and Bonsai Design + Build:
Jennifer Karkar Ritchie is the owner and principal of Revolution Public Relations, a sustainable lifestyle public relations and marketing firm in the Pacific Northwest. She's also the owner and occupant of Washington State's first passive home, built at a time when far fewer people knew about passive building standards, and materials were much harder to come by.
In this episode, we talk about Jennifer's experience marketing her own home through education, home tours, and many conversations, how her work with passive building clients — most notably Phius — has shaped her understanding of what challenges passive building companies face, why she prefers the term "passive building" to "passive house," and much more.
Connect with Jennifer and Revolution PR:
Aaron Waldt is the Product Consultant for Eastern Canada at 475 High Performance Building Supply. In the five years he's been in the role, Aaron has seen a rising tide of awareness that has moved his starting point for conversations about passive house and passive building techniques.
In this episode, we talk about the effect of regional vernacular architecture on retrofit efforts, the critical role of education in spreading the word about high-performance building techniques, the impact awareness has on increasing product acceptance and usage, and much more.
Connect with Aaron and 475:
John Loercher is the owner and primary consultant at Northeast Projects, a professor of architecture and the director of the Building Science Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and a trainer at Phius.
In this episode, we talk about the commonalities (and differences) between training practicing professionals and students, the new building considerations John's had to get his head around as his practice takes on jobs further West, getting introduced to Passive House via the Solar Decathlon, and more.
Connect with John and Northeast Projects:
Kristof Irwin is the Director of Building Science at Positive Energy, a specialty MEP engineering firm for custom residential architecture projects, and the Host of the Building Science Podcast, making this a fun "interview the host"-style chat.
In this episode, we talk about the growth Kristof has seen in the Passivhaus space since its early days in the US, the power of Systems Thinking, the role people's worldviews/paradigms play in maintaining the status quo, the need to shift people's paradigms when it comes to what a building can and should provide, and much more.
Connect with Kristof through Positive Energy and The Building Science Podcast:
Beth Campbell is the Education Program Director at Passive House Massachusetts, a Certified Passive House Tradesperson, a PHIUS-Certified Passive House Builder Trainer, and the Chair of the Board at Passive House Rhode Island. She brings a wealth of knowledge from multiple perspectives within the industry, spanning the US from the Pacific Northwest to New England.
In this episode, we track Beth's journey from subcontractor to working in green and natural building to discovering and embracing passive house and passive building methodologies. We talk about the marketing needs of different stakeholders and audiences, how to most efficiently bridge existing education gaps within the industry, and the continued great work happening in Massachusetts.
Connect with Beth, Passive House Massachusetts, and Passive House Rhode Island:
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