Active House: an all active eco-architecture building envelope concept

The present trend in energy efficient eco-architecture dwellings is the passive house concept. The ventilation of many of these passive houses is critical. The development of sustainable buildings is driven by the need to preserve the balance of nature. The ventilation of many of these passive houses is though critical. During a three week period different measurements in three of the first passive houses in Netherlands were undertaken to be able to define the quality of indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The results showed that in some cases ventilation was completely insufficient. Energy saving and sustainability is very important but not at the risk of endangering health of the occupants. This was the starting point for a new approach, which led to an active house concept. By using ground air collectors, labyrinth foundation, muro-causter and hypo-causter, the whole building envelope and construction is thermally activated by natural pre-cooled air in the summer and natural pre-heated air in winter. A first design is presented to demonstrate the concept