Photos: Architect11
Passion Group Smart Design House, Estonia Passion Smart Design House is a prefabricated modular design by the Passion Group and Estonian firm Architect 11 — and this recently completed 40 square metre version is the first prototype built. Designed to be erected in just a day or two — with most work done off-site — this unit is intended as an addition to an existing house, or as a guesthouse or holiday cottage. The structure is delivered fully furnished, with furniture and appliances "attached" inside. The architects say that by constructing the house in-factory and minimising time on site, they reduce their impact on the local environment. The dwelling is constructed from a glulam frame that's insulated with mineral wool, and solar thermal heating features too. The house was designed with PHPP, though the architects say that some assumptions made by the software — that the house will be occupied year round, for example — do not apply to this prototype unit. This building's space heating demand is 54 kWh/m2/yr — well outside the passive house standard of 15 kWh/m2/yr. But architect Eero Endjärv switched the climate setting for the house to Dublin, and the space heating demand dropped to just 7kWh/m2/yr — meaning that if this was built in the Irish capital, it would be a passive house.