Passive House in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic by Echorost architekti

Article source: Echorost architekti

The house was designed for the old couple, whose main demands were low maintenance/operation costs and distribution of main rooms to the ground floor.
It was the specific shape of the plot which set a boundary of the house and together with structural constraints also defined a resulting geometry of the house. The geometry was based on a consistent extrusion of the house boundary. The proposal took into account also an option that clients could buy up the neighbouring plots. This came true during the construction of the house. The design of the house was optimized for the lowest energy demand while keeping other design demands (e.g. possibility to use the first floor as a second flat). Therefore the house met the passive house criteria and among else qualified for the appropriate government subsidy.

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

• Architects: Echorost architekti
• Project: Passive House
• Location: Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
• Investor: private investor
• General contractor: Asting cz
• Start date: June 2010
• Completion date: September 2011
• Software used: Rhinoceros, Grasshopper

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

• Construction: massive
• Built-up area: 110 m²
• Volume: 685 m³
• Floor area: 150 m²
• Number of dwelling units: 2
• Heat demand: 15 kWh/(m².year)
• Primary energy: 49 kWh/(m².year)
• Air tightness n50: 0,4/h
• Energy efficiency rating: A

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

The main living areas are oriented towards the sun. The proposed system of exterior blinds helps to eliminate a summer overheating of the house while meeting the desired daylight levels. Due to the fact that certain aspects of the assignment were unclear (budget, sizes of rooms) and because of the necessity to optimize the energy demand of the house it was decided to use three-dimensional parametric model.

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

This associative model reacted in real time on input parameters (e.g. boundary of the house, floor height, wall thickness etc.) and modified the geometry accordingly. Furthermore it was possible to simulate the behaviour of the house at any time and therefore optimize the house for the lowest energy demand, duration of the insolation or quality of the daylight. This strategy required enhanced time investment in the beginning but this investment was more than paid off in next phases of the project due to the constant change of the design.Close cooperation of the investor, architect and the contractor during the design phases proved to be very beneficial.

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Image Courtesy © Echorost architekti

Tags: Czech Republic, Králové

Categories: Grasshopper, House, Rhinoceros

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