Siethen is an old village with history and incredible protected nature, just half an hour from the central Berlin. We started the project with my wife as a normal house for our family, and later it evolved to reach the Passivehous standard.
The house is located on a slightly elevated ground, next to a lake an forest, part of a protected natural reserve. The newly developed residential area of the village is located on the border of the reserve, on the territory of an old football field.
The windows on the south facade warm the house when the Azimuth of the sun is low during the Winter. During the Summer partial shading is needed to keep the inside temperature below 25 Celsius. A Terrace is opening the living room to the garden on the south through a sliding door.
The window on the East facade is sized to prevent over-cooling in Winter. The North facade and the northern slope of the roof are left without openings for the same reason. The calculation of the energy balance of the house, according to the exact orientation, surrounding and local climate is simulated by me in the PHPP simulation platform, developed by the Pasivhaus Institute in Darmstadt.
The outer walls contain several layers of insulation materials with combined thickness of 34 cm. This is achieved with timber-frame wall panels, prefabricated in a CNC automated process. The panel elements were sealed from inside and outside with air-tight sealing tapes. After the air-tight seal, the raw facades and the roof were insulated with wood-based material, ensuring longevity of the plaster finish and optimizing the thermodynamics of the wall panel.
To optimize the comfort on the inside a 6 cm of insulation with low vapor-absorbtion property was installed. This will keep the humidity of the air optimal and will not let the centralized ventilation system dry the air during the cold months. To reassure that, an Enthalpy recuperation should be installed in the ventilation module.
The acoustics and the noise insulation are optimal. Because of the 20 cm of mineral acoustic insulation, built in the floor’s timber beamwork, and the thick timber-frame outer walls, the acoustics are unmatched by any massive construction house.
The house is built on top of a classic deep foundation. A high grade type of concrete with increased rigidity and chemical resistance is used. The thermal bridges are avoided without any compromise in the bearing performance of the connection between the walls and the foundation. The thermal bridges are also avoided on other critical areas, like the window openings and around the roof.
This is a Thermal Bridge simulation of the key walls connection with the foundation. The simulation is made with the built-in Archicad tool. The parameters are given according to the methodology described by the Passivhaus standard. The Thermal bridge is avoided, 1. because of the nature of the Timber-Frame outer walls and, 2. because the cement screed is disconnected from the outer walls with a perimeter of insulation.