What is passive design and why is it important?

What is passive design?

Passive design is design that takes advantage of local climate to minimise the use of active heating and cooling. This is done via the use of passive heating and cooling strategies. Active systems are systems that consume electricity or gas to heat and cool your home. Examples include reverse cycle air conditioning, ducted heating, portable electric heaters, fans and hydronic heating (water based). Alternately, passive strategies are design choices that take advantage of the sun and wind to heat and cool your home. Passive design is a great way to reduce your winter gas bill and summer electricity bill. (Additional ways to reduce bills include installing solar panels. Click here to read a great article by Project Architect Howard Siow on what to know about solar panels before installing).

How does passive design work?

Passive design works to heat your home in winter by heating materials in your home with sunlight. These materials (such as concrete or brick), heat up slowly throughout the day, releasing this heat into the air at night. In summer, these materials store unwanted heat, releasing it when outside temperatures drop overnight. Additionally, breezes can cool your home by carefully orienting windows and doors to allow the wind to push hot air out of your home in the mornings and early evenings.

For best passive design practices, these strategies should be carefully combined with insulation, glazing systems and climate suitability. Passive design should ideally be incorporated into the design process. However, certain passive strategies can be implemented through renovations and home improvement if your home is older. The main categories of your home that are considered when designing passive strategies are:

  1. Orientation of your home on its site according to the sun, wind and natural shading (such as trees).
  2. Materials used to construct your home and their thermal properties (thermal mass).
  3. Insulation of your home.
  4. Glazing (windows) systems used and their placement in your home.
What is orientation and why is it important?

Orientation is how your home is positioned on its site. Orientation is important as it can significantly improve comfort through sunlight and breezes. For example, for optimal comfort levels throughout winter and summer, living spaces should be oriented north. Incorrect orientation can add significantly to heating and cooling costs as you have to compensate for bad internal temperatures by turning on the heating or cooling. For example, if your living room is oriented west, this can mean in summer your house will heat up rapidly in the afternoons and thus require extra cooling.

What is thermal mass?

Thermal mass is the ability for materials used in constructing homes to store and release heat. For example, when sunlight hits exposed concrete it absorbs the heat from the sun. This heat is progressively stored and later released back into the environment. It’s important to note that not all materials are good thermal mass. So make sure you’re working with the right materials such as brick and concrete. Additionally, its important to leave thermal mass exposed for it to work passively. This means that if you have an internal brick wall, a plasterboard internal finish will prevent it from absorbing heat.

Why is insulation important?

It is important to insulate your home correctly, as there’s no point designing great passive strategies if heat can escape! Insulation works as a barrier that makes it hard for hot air to escape in winter and enter in summer. This subsequently enables your home to retain stable temperatures inside throughout the year. Additionally, insulation is great for soundproofing you home, creating an overall more comfortable environment.

Why is glazing important?

Glazing is the primary way that heating energy is lost and gained in your home – an astounding 40% of heat energy is lost and 87% gained through the glazing systems alone. When choosing glazing, it is important to consider whether you will use single or double glazed, with double glazed much better at preventing heat loss and gain. Although glazing can cost a lot upfront, it can lead to up to 30% savings in your heating and cooling bills when designed and implemented effectively. It’s important that once your home is built, you engage in best practices such as the use of curtains and thermally efficient blinds to further prevent heat loss and gain.

How can I improve my home without building a new one?

Some ways you can improve your home is through installing correct insulation, external shading and ensuring that windows have thermally efficient blinds or thick curtains to prevent heat escaping. Just one of these strategies can help to make a noticeable difference to comfort in your home and not all require extensive renovations. If you are thinking about significant renovations to your home, it’s worthwhile speaking with your architect on how to incorporate passive strategies into the existing design.

Basic passive design is a common building practice in Australia. However, it’s still important to outline with your architect that you want passive strategies to be included at the design stage. For more information on passive design, click here for the Australian Government’s guide to passive strategies.

Tara Nosko, 10/11/2021

Testimonials

Jordan Hughes
23:36 01 May 25
Barbara Oh
08:27 11 Jul 24
I highly recommmend the team at BY Architecture.

Barbara, Howard and the team designed a wonderful extension to my late 1960s Melbourne home, ran the tender process to find me a builder, and superintended the build contract.

The design process that Barbara took me through was comprehensive, well-considered and highly collaborative, and the resulting extension and renovation was incredibly well-tailored to my specific needs and desires.

The tender process was similarly well-run, and we ended up choosing a builder that Barbara had worked with many times before and recommended. The recommendation was a great one and the entire build ran very smoothly, with the many quirks arising in a typical renovation being dealt with intelligently and with no fuss.

During the entire time I worked with them, Barbara and her team went over-and-above to keep me happy. As a result of their attention to detail and their focus on customer service, they ensured that what can often be a stressful time was actually a pleasure. I cannot thank them enough and would work with them again in a heartbeat.
thir carc
12:44 17 Jun 24
Barbara is very friendly and easy to work with. Thank you for the great advices.
Response from the owner 23:14 17 Jun 24
thank you Arik. Happy to be helpful
Emily Campbell
02:59 31 May 24
Barbara and the BY Projects team were fantastic to work with for our knockdown-rebuild. We had no idea what we were doing or getting ourselves in for, and through every stage of the process Barbara explained everything and was supportive and transparent.
She drew plans for a beautiful house for us which fulfilled everything we wanted while adding such flair and style that we never could have imagined ourselves.
I was so glad to have her and her team on my side throughout the build process, as we would have struggled to advocate for ourselves (or even notice) mistakes or defects by the builder.
Overall, we just couldn’t be happier with the final result.
Response from the owner 06:53 31 May 24
Thank you for your enthusiasm Emily. And thank you for trusting us with your dream Home. It's been a pleasure working with you and your family, and we trust you will enjoy your home for the years to come.
Jennifer Hauptman
03:43 04 Feb 24
Koray Yazgan
03:49 13 Mar 21
We recently had the pleasure of carrying out a renovation for Barbara and BY Projects Architecture.
The project ran very smoothly from receiving the plans, to handover day.
Barbara pays very close attention to detail and takes great pride in her work.
We look forward to working with BY again on future projects.
Response from the owner 22:11 30 Mar 21
Thank you Koray. It was a pleasure working with AMCON Homes, we look forward to working with you again in the future.
Janardhan S
05:35 15 Feb 21
Barbara provided excellent professional advice regarding Town planning and approval process by the Council. She went out of her way to find the right information and help me. Will surely use their services again when necessary.
I would highly recommend them.
Response from the owner 01:37 16 Feb 21
Thank you Jarardhan. We do hope you find a more suitable site soon to build your dream homeBarbara
Sophie Banfield
13:34 29 Apr 20
We were in a very difficult position after a VCAT rejection. Barbara came into our project and reimagined what was possible with our property. Going from a house with three shops with significantly reduced value to a development with two town houses, a cafe and all able to be subdivided into three separate properties. Barbara was positive, enthusiastic, charming at planning meeting and all in all kept us positive and hopeful. Barbara went through the whole process with us and I would say went above and beyond what would generally be expected. She worked well with our development team, working out strategies for planning challenges. We are very thankful for her time and energy.
Mark Shannon
23:46 24 Aug 19
We engaged Barbara and her team many times over many years for our Building Development Projects, including Multi Residential, Child Care and Mixed Use. Most recently for a couple of houses in Port Melbourne with complex Heritage Overlay requirements.

Barbara worked with us closely to ensure all design requirements were achieved to exceed market expectations. All permit requirements were managed in a professional and timely manner, and all processes were met on time and on budget.

The finished buildings were outstanding and the realized sales well above market expectations.

We highly recommend BY Projects Architecture for their Design sense and construction experience.
Virginia Jackson
05:25 24 May 19
I have worked with Barbara and the team at BY Projects on a number of projects now. Its hard to think how you could get better value for money. They are great architects - that goes without saying. But its the extra mile they go to on your behalf in order to secure the very best for you that makes all the difference. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them for your next project.
Response from the owner 06:02 24 May 19
Thank you Virginia for your kind words. It is always a pleasure working with you.

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