Simple and Elegant Building Passive House

It’s a simple and elegant house in Japan. This home is located about 50 miles southwest of Tokyo in the resort town of Kamakura city. It was designed by Key Architects. It’s the first certified Passive House in Japan. This building becomes Passive House certified when amongst other things it achieves a strict kWh per square-foot per year energy profile. This ultra-efficient house is a far cry from traditional Japanese housing that usually used thin wall construction and single-pane windows. The architect of this building uses very detailed construction materials and building techniques to improve the shell’s r-value to the point where much of the interior heating is provided by the appliances and occupants of this building.

This house features triple-pane windows, thick walls for insulation, and a minimum of exterior joints, which are prone to air leaks and thermal bridging. The core of the HVAC system is a HRV. It provides a constant supply of fresh, filtered air. The design of this building helps to diminish the criticism that the boxyness of many passive houses is not beautiful. This sustainable building would save an enormous amount of energy in Japan’s climate.