This is our first design project of the semester in this class. We were tasked by our teacher to create a passive house on a site of our choosing, as long as it was in Pennsylvania. Were given a series of requirements: it must get below a rating below 50 on BEopt and it should satisfy most of the passive house requirements. We were told to provide a site plan, floor plans, elevations, at least three building sections, a discussion on our sustainable practices, and renderings..

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I located a site in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania on Council Place. Once I found a site I started brainstorming various design possibilities; ultimately I chose to go with my fourth option after I created a matrix, bubble diagrams, and massing models of all of my options and with permission from my teacher. Once I was given the green light by my instructor I modified my house in BEopt to satisfy the requirements of the project; I used those values as my primary source of sustainable practices. I then created my project in Revit, using the values from BEopt to modify my floor and wall thicknesses to satisfy the requirements of the project. After I created the house as I wanted, I asked my teacher for critiques on it. Once I got those critiques I modified the house to the current iteration. I then created a 3D model of the project. I then created the remaining requirements for the project.

The sustainable attributes I used on my project primarily involved the building envelope and the photo voltaic array on the roof of the building. I also modified the windows to be double-glazed argon-filled windows. I added a ground-source heat pump and sustainable appliances.