The Shape of Necessity - Passive House Architecture - is Quickly Coming into View
Medium feature by Craig Maierhofer
Nederland, CO, home to 1,523 residents, is a small town situated at an altitude of 8,232 feet in a windy canyon located 30 minutes from Boulder in the Rocky Mountain foothills. In the summertime, temperatures in the foothills of the Rockies can get quite hot, and there are thunderstorms regularly. The chance for a lightning strike igniting a forest fire is omnipresent. Because past of fire occurrences, residents in the foothills of Boulder have lost a lot of property over the past 30 years, with the most destructive wildfire taking place in 2020 — the Left Hand Canyon/Cal Wood wildfire — which burned over 10,000 acres.
If one were to seek out passive house design, Nederland might be a good place to start, considering its residents have been on the leading edge of adopting it over the past several years, in part because of the fireproof features associated with the building philosophy. It therefore comes as no surprise that a Nederland passive house (and one outfitted with Alpen windows) is also making noise on the award circuit. During a recent national Passive House Conference, better known as PhiusCon, the home featured in the images here, which achieved Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) certification, was honored with the 2023 PHIUS Passive Projects Design Competition, Single Family Home Honorable Mention Award.
According to the architect, Shape Architecture of Denver, “the design for this 3,000 square foot single family Passive House is set into the hillside near Nederland, nestled in a ponderosa grove with lovely rocky outcrops and spectacular views to the Eldora ski resort and Indian Peaks wilderness. Oriented to capture southern sun and views, this home is designed to resist the brutal winds and intense climate of its mountain setting.”
