Title: Five Principles of Passive House Design and Construction | Passive House Buildings
Headings: Five Principles of Passive House
Design and Construction

Five Principles of Passive House Design and Construction
Superinsulated Envelopes
Figure 1. Example Building Assemblies
Airtight Construction
High-Performance Glazing
Figure 2. Example Features of a Passive House Window
Thermal-Bridge-Free Detailing
Figure 3. Example building interface details
Heat Recovery Ventilation
Summary
Building the Pathway to Net Zero Ready

Content: Examples include how a window is attached to the walls, how a wall meets a balcony, and how walls meet at corners, as shown in Figure 3. The way these building features connect and are designed can also introduce thermal bridging that’s not always easy to recognize. Figure 3. Example building interface details
(left) Cantilevered balcony. ( middle) Window sill transition. ( right) Wall corner. (Courtesy of Morrison Hershfield Ltd)
Thermal bridging from interface details can have numerous effects on building performance. For highly insulated envelopes like those in Passive House projects, thermal bridging can significantly reduce the benefits of superinsulating by allowing heat to flow around the insulation and out of the building, and can also create localized cold spots, increasing the risk of condensation and mould growth around these details. The easiest way to avoid thermal bridging is by making architectural design changes (where possible), such as using self-supported decks and canopies for low-rise buildings or reducing the number of cantilevered balconies and articulating architecture (lots of corners) on larger buildings. This is not always realistic or achievable, and in these cases, special attention needs to be paid to these interfaces.