The Full Plane Passive House gives modern form and presence to the owner’s ecological and social values, while providing a playful environment for her son to grow and be educated in sustainable living in the City. To meet net-zero water goals she combined stormwater catchment, graywater irrigation for her living landscape and composting toilets. It all complied with Oregon’s statewide alternative water re-use plumbing rules adopted a decade before many other US Cities even considered it.
Ankeny Row is an environmentally-friendly, socially engaging cohousing community in Portland, Oregon with five townhomes, a loft apartment and a community hall surrounding a central courtyard. A Passive House development with a net-zero energy goal, the buildings use an airtight super-insulated building envelope, innovative heat recovery ventilation and passive solar strategies to sharply reduce energy demand. Extended 48” deep eaves that shade the large south facing windows on the topmost floor, and a combustible material wood deck were approved after two successful code appeals, by including fire sprinkler protection.