Blake Middleton details how The House at Cornell Tech could encourage future Passive House projects at various scales.
“While formulating our response to the Cornell RFP, we became aware that Passive House principles had been applied to a large building in Germany. Our client was intrigued and came away from a visit to that building excited about the possibilities of applying this protocol to the Cornell project. Because of the immense uncertainty at the early stages—could our construction team meet the challenge? Could we afford it?—the development team remained cautious about committing to actual Passive House design requirements.
Once deeper into the research and design process, and more familiar with what was required, all involved became more confident we could make this work. Everyone stepped up to commit to the effort. The development team of Hudson/Related, along with Cornell, wanted to make this a showcase of “applied science”: a beta test that, if successful, could have a dramatic impact on how super energy-efficient design can be applied to buildings of scale. And in turn, how to make a meaningful impact on greenhouse-gas reduction with each building we erect in the future.”
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AN speaks to one of the architects behind the world’s tallest Passive House building, The Architect’s Newspaper
