Passive House Podcast

Passive House Podcast co-host Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Maria Callau, Director of SUR Architecture in Dunedin, New Zealand. The conversation delves into Callau's research into fuel poverty in New Zealand, the Passive House High Street Co-housing Development that she and her family are residents of, and her architectural practice at SUR.

For links to the events that Matthew and co-host Zack Semke discuss at the end of the episode, visit: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-september-20

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Passive House Podcast cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Mark Siddall, architect, founder, and director of low energy architecture at LEAP (http://leap4.it/). He’s passionate about enabling people to lead happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives by helping them create a comfortable lifestyle in beautiful, quality assured, ultra low energy homes, workplaces and communities.

Prof. Wolfgang Feist says of Mark, “... he is one of the pioneers to introduce Passivhaus to the UK. His experience and ongoing research into building performance makes him one of the UK’s most skilled and knowledgeable Passivhaus Architects. ...I have no doubt that Mark Siddall’s buildings also offer an economical, attractive solution to the investors.”

Matthew and cohost Zack Semke discuss upcoming Passive House events. Find links here:
https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-september-6

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

To kick off Season 2 of the Passive House Podcast, Mary James and Ilka Cassidy interview Mackenzie Stickney, Project Manager at [bundle] Design Studio, a leader of sustainable design that works out of a PHIUS-certified Passive House tiny trailer in Bellingham, Washington. She's a Passive House practitioner, woodworker, and dynamic young innovator in climate-wise building design.

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this Encore Episode of the Passive House Podcast (originally aired as Episode 29 on International Women's Day, March 7, 2021), guest co-hosts Mary James and Ilka Cassidy interview two exciting guests who are collaborating on a retrofit guide for common building typologies found in cold climates.

Nina Sharifi is an assistant professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture and the Director of the Applied Sciences and Technology Research and Architecture Lab. Gabrielle Brainard is an architect, facade specialist, and educator. She consults on Passive House projects, conducts academic research, and teaches architecture and building science at Pratt Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

The envelope retrofit guide that they are collaborating on will provide technical guidance to architects in the early stages of net-zero retrofit projects. The guide focuses on the building envelope, a critical component of high-performance retrofits that is the primary responsibility of the architect. During their interview with Mary and Ilka, Nina and Gaby discuss the retrofit guide project, dive into an explanation of the field of architectural sciences and how Passive House design meshes with it, and explore the overlap of architecture, construction, and technology in Passive House project delivery. They also reflect on their experience as women in the fields of architecture and construction, and in working to catalyze the transition to high-performance, low carbon building. 

Mary, Matthew Cutler-Welsh, and Zack Semke mention upcoming Passive House Accelerator programming for September, including:

1.  The Global Passive House Showcase (formerly known as the Global Passive House Happy Hour): https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/our-happy-hour-to-become-the-global-passive-house-showcase
2. Construction Tech Tuesday: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/construction-tech-is-back-soon

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this Encore Episode of the Passive House Podcast (originally aired as Episode 37 on May 3, 2021), guest co-hosts Mary James and Ilka Cassidy interview Katie Faulkner, founder of WestFaulkner, an office with a mission for sustainable design. She is also a director at PT-Tech, a division of Placetailor in Boston whose initial focus is on the design and prefabrication of retrofit panels for triple-decker homes.

Katie has been working as an architect for more than 20 years and was named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2020. Her work is motivated by an interest in sustainable, modular construction, centered on the intention to reduce risk and improve cost control. She was a founding partner of the Boston-based firm NADAAA, where her projects included the Daniels Building at University of Toronto, Rhode Island School of Design’s North Hall, and the R+D Center at the Beaver School. More recently, she was a Vice President of Design for Katerra, focusing on a mid-rise mass timber housing prototype.

Mary and Ilka’s conversation with Katie ranges from the career opportunities that prefabrication opens up for women to the urgency of deep energy retrofits, and much in between. Her early work in healthcare design led to an abiding interest in optimized project delivery models, while always keeping sustainable design front and center. Katie’s decades-long experience is well suited to her current collaboration with Placetailor to bring to market cost-effective bio-based retrofit panels.

At the end of this encore episode, Mary, Matthew Cutler-Welsh, and Zack Semke discuss major Passive House conferences and events coming up in Fall 2021: 

• 25th International Passive House Conference (Passive House Institute) Part I: September 10-12; Part II: September 14+15: https://passivhaustagung.de/en/
• Tower Retrofit Symposium 2021 (Passive House Canada) September 22-23: https://www.passivehousecanada.com/tower-retrofit/
• PhiusCon (Phius) October 12-15: http://phiuscon.org/
• South Pacific Passive House Conference (PHINZ + APHA) November 25-27: https://passivehouse.nz/2021/06/09/spphc21-cfa/

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this Encore Episode of the Passive House Podcast (originally aired as Episode 20 on January 4, 2021), cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Daniel Kress. Daniel is a prolific Passive House educator, having trained over half of Australia’s certified Passive House professionals. Matthew and Daniel discuss his work at Smart Plus Academy, the educational consultancy that Daniel founded and directs, as well as his work promulgating Passive House in Australia and beyond.  

At the end of the episode, Mathew and Co-host Zack Semke discuss major Passive House conferences and events coming up in Fall 2021: 

• 25th International Passive House Conference (Passive House Institute) Part I: September 10-12; Part II: September 14+15: https://passivhaustagung.de/en/
• Tower Retrofit Symposium 2021 (Passive House Canada) September 22-23: https://www.passivehousecanada.com/tower-retrofit/
• PhiusCon (Phius) October 12-15: http://phiuscon.org/
• South Pacific Passive House Conference (PHINZ + APHA) November 25-27: https://passivehouse.nz/2021/06/09/spphc21-cfa/

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this Encore Episode of the Passive House Podcast (originally aired as Episode 36 on April 26, 2021). cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Robyn Wark, Manager of Advanced Demand Side Management at BC Hydro about the groundbreaking Energy Step Code in British Columbia. 

Robyn is a sustainability strategist, partnership builder, and coach on low carbon communities.  Her sustainability work has won awards from Real Estate Foundation of BC, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Institute of Planners, and the Planning Institute of British Columbia (PIBC). In 2013 she was awarded the PIBC Individual Award for Leadership in Advocacy & Innovation. 

The BC Step Code provides a roadmap of 5 steps to guide the AEC industry and BC cities from today's base building code to an endpoint of Passive House-levels of performance. This highest level of performance, “Step 5”, will become mandatory for all buildings in British Columbia by 2032. Because everyone knows exactly where code is headed, as well as the steps to get there, early adoption of higher levels of performance can be incentivized in a clear and rational way. 

In her conversation with Matthew, Robyn describes the BC Energy Step Code, how it came to be in British Columbia, and how its lessons might be applied elsewhere in the world. 

Read more about BC Energy Step Code here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/construction-industry/building-codes-and-standards/reports/bcenergystepcode_lessons_learned_final.pdf

At the end of the episode, Mathew and Co-host Zack Semke discuss major Passive House conferences and events coming up in Fall 2021: 

• 25th International Passive House Conference (Passive House Institute) Part I: September 10-12; Part II: September 14+15: https://passivhaustagung.de/en/
• Tower Retrofit Symposium 2021 (Passive House Canada) September 22-23: https://www.passivehousecanada.com/tower-retrofit/
• PhiusCon (Phius) October 12-15: http://phiuscon.org/
• South Pacific Passive House Conference (PHINZ + APHA) November 25-27: https://passivehouse.nz/2021/06/09/spphc21-cfa/

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

In this 50th regular episode of the Passive House Podcast (and the last installment of Season 1), cohost Zack Semke interviews Jeremy Avellino, founder and principal of Philadelphia-based Bright Common Architecture & Design, the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Design Vanguard award from Architectural Record. Jeremy talks about his firm's practice and shares his perspectives about the work of centering equity in housing and Passive House design.

Bright Common website: https://www.brightcommon.com/
Architectural Record piece about Bright Common and the Design Vanguard 2021 award:
https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/15160-design-vanguard-2021-bright-common
Week in Preview for links to upcoming Passive House events: https://passivehouseaccelerator.com/articles/passive-house-week-in-preview-august-2

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 18th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Sophia Rini of ROCKWOOL North America.

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.

Catch this special bonus episode of the Passive House Podcast, recorded at North American Passive House Network’s conference, “Passive House for All", in June 2021 in New York City. In this, the 17th of 18 interviews we recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference hall floor, cohost Zack Semke interviews Mikhail Haramati of NYSERDA and Bronwyn Barry of NAPHN.

Thank you for listening to the Passive House Podcast! To learn more about Passive House and to stay abreast of our latest programming, visit passivehouseaccelerator.com. And please join us at one of our Passive House Accelerator LIVE! zoom gatherings on Wednesdays.