Dwell Development to Offer Passive House

We’ve posted about a few projects by Dwell Development in the past. A majority of their projects are in areas such as Rainier Valley/Columbia City and we like it when they do their Built Green, modern thing. And, according to a recent press release, they are raising their bar in 2012:

Dwell Development, a dynamic, boutique full service firm who designs and builds award-winning, modern, sustainable homes in Seattle, are launching 2012 with a renewed focus on custom green homes.

“Homes are built targeting LEED Platinum and are 5-star Built Green third-party verified. Features including triple-pane windows, Energy Star Appliances, and heat recovery ventilation systems bring significant savings to utility bills”, says Anthony Maschmedt, principal of Dwell Development. “We are also building the area’s first spec Passive House, which is a home that meets the Net Zero Energy Use model, and would love to create more custom homes in the Passive House category.”

According to PassiveHouse Institute (US), Passive House represents today’s highest energy standard with an aim towards reducing a home’s energy consumption by 90%. A Passive House is a very well-insulated, virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc. Energy losses are minimized.

Dwell Development‘s first spec Passive House is currently in design phase and will be built at Columbia Station Phase Four in Rainier Vista. In the past, Dwell Development has been building extremely tight homes, and they have been trying to build closer and closer to Passive House standards. Fortunately for you, I happened to get my hands on the PDF floor plans for this home (level 1 & 2, level 3 & rooftop deck).

When I asked about price, it wasn’t yet defined but they did expect it to be about 5% over their standard spec home which is typically 5-10% above what a “code standard” home costs due to insulation, windows, HRV systems and air-sealing.

Interestingly, this Passive House will eventually be adjacent to a home that Dwell Development is building in participation with Habitat for Humanity. This H4H collaboration, House of the Immediate Future, will be built at the base of the Space Needle and moved to the lot adjacent to the Passive House at the Columbia Station Phase 4 development.