AI Passivhaus - Grand Designs

Chris and Helen Seymour Smith, owners of Seymour-Smith Architects wanted to create not what was just the first certified Passivhaus dwelling in England, an energy efficient construction standard that typically achieves an energy saving of 90% compared to existing house, but to show that you can bring the Italian catwalk to eco homes, proving that you don’t have to knit your own sandals to be an environmentally friendly builder.

Optimising a buildings shape and orientation is one of the basic principles of successful Passivhaus design and includes sizing south facing glazing to capture free solar gain in the winter to warm the property whilst carefully designed solar control should be incorporated to successfully eliminate the possibility of the property overheating.

Caribbean worked with Seymour-Smith to provide a solar control solution to all the South West facing glazing, which would blend with the aesthetics of the property, getting lost in the design. The Dominica external roller blind was chosen as it features slim wire guides which were positioned directly in front of the window frames, making them virtually invisible. Cassette casings to the top of the blinds were neatly concealed within the insulated render so the blinds are hidden from view when retracted, whilst a pure white fabric blends harmoniously with the façade, allowing the breathtaking views across the fields to be maintained due to the perforations contained within the material.

To ensure the blinds prevented excessive overheating they were linked into a discreet wire free sensor, which monitors the interior temperatures, automatically lowering the blinds when the properties optimum comfort level is reached to prevent further solar gain and raising them when temperatures were below the threshold to admit free solar gain warming the property.