This modern, compact home on a lifestyle block in the Bay of Plenty is delighting its European owners. After a dozen years in typical cold, damp New Zealand houses, it’s a welcome change to wake up to 18 degree temperatures throughout the house, without any heating. They also appreciate the lower humidity established by continuous mechanical ventilation. This project showcases …

The first Certified Passive House Plus in the Bay of Plenty is delighting its owner/builders with the quiet comfort it offers. They’re also delighted with their power bills, which have dropped from $160+/month to about $20. Heating demand and load performance are well below Passive House maximums and no energy for cooling is expected. Timber windows from Thermadura were chosen …

    Dunedin architect Rafe Maclean had previously designed Passive Houses for clients but this build was for his own family. Several family members suffer from asthma and a warm, dry, healthy living environment was a priority. The simplicity of the three bedroom, two-storey home’s form helped to reduce construction complexity while making the home more thermally efficient. Clever design …

Dunedin firm Architype designed and built this home for a couple relocating to Cambridge who wanted a comfortable, energy-efficient house that would meet their needs as they aged. The layout, structure, services and aesthetics of the building tightly work together to create a simple yet extremely high-performance building. The Browne residence was Architype’s first North Island Passive House project; its …

This home stands on a stunning site looking south-west over the dramatic coast line. The challenge the architects solved was to create a building open to those views while also sheltered from the ever-changing weather. A long elevation to the north-west serves to bring maximum sun, light and energy into the whole house. The house is built with timber studs, …

This is a two-storey modern residence in the middle of Christchurch that replaces the family’s home damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes. It was Christchurch’s first certified Passive House Plus home, generating power via a 7 kW solar photovoltaic array. The home stands on a waffle pod slab, a very thick and strong foundation that can be used where liquefaction risk …

This striking family home is the first South Island residence to be certified as Passive House Plus; it meets Passive House performance standards plus generates as much energy as it uses over a year. Proving there need not be a trade-off between function and form, its architects were highly commended in the 2018 ADNZ Architectural Design Awards. The house was …

The owners of this large, modern home were well-informed about high-performance homes and knew what they wanted: he was GM of Knauf Insulation and she worked for the Green Building Council! The house spans 245 m2 over two levels in a greenfields development south-east of Auckland and was completed in 2014. It boasts four bedrooms, two bathrooms, two living areas, …

  Hohaia House sits unobtrusively among other new homes in a Matamata suburb, a modern, house with brick cladding and a long-run roof. But under the skin, it’s a very different thing to its neighbours. It’s certified as a Low Energy Building by the Passive House Institute, one of the first of its kind in New Zealand. It’s a new …