Page 22 - Green Builder Magazine March-April 2018 Issue

FROM THE JUDGES

“This design captures
the sustainability

imagination, with
a strong natural

connection and
sense of place.”

Back to nature. Designer Andrew Michler envisioned a house that could be reabsorbed by the forest after the steel roof and windows are recycled.
with cellulose, rather than a concrete slab, greatly reducing the With Heating, Less Is More
amount of concrete needed. The stem walls rise from an earth-and- Passive House design achieves a 90 percent reduction in heating
tire foundation that Michler salvaged from a previous shop building. demand. According to Michler, the MARTaK Passive House requires
The walls consist of traditional 2-by-4 wood framing skinned with the equivalent of a stovetop burner for heating. The home is heated
plywood; the cavities are filled with Rockwool mineral wool batts, and with a hydronic loop that relies on an efficient propane-fired tankless
joints are taped with adhesive tape from pro clima. Larsen trusses— heater in combination with a heat recovery ventilator. The HRV
ladder-like, non-loadbearing frames—attach to the exterior, creating supplies fresh air to the home and is supplemented with an earth
bays that are filled with blown-in cellulose insulation. Rockwool tube for summer cooling.
drain boards—a rigid mineral wool product—attach to the Larsen Because it is an off-grid home in a fire-prone landscape,
trusses, and the exterior walls are finished with a rainscreen and self-sufficiency and resilience were givens. Materials such as
board-and-batten fiber cement siding. The walls vary in thickness the mineral wool board, metal roof, cement board siding and
from 16 inches to 24 inches, with the thicker walls on the north side. triple-pane windows provide fire resistance; rain catchment
Triple-pane windows from INTUS complete the envelope.
Insulation values are high, even by passive house standards, with
the thickest walls reaching R-120. In fact, modeling software showed Project Stats
the project performing at more than twice the certification level. NAME: MARTaK Passive House
“We way overbuilt,” says Michler. “It was my first passive house,
so there was a lot of learning.” Since then, Michler has designed a ARCHITECT/DESIGNER: Andrew Michler, Baosol Design
BUILDER: Baosol Design and Parr Construction
second passive house, and he recently traveled to Vancouver, B.C., PHOTOGRAPHER: Andrew Michler
to research high-performance buildings.

20 GREEN BUILDER March/April 2018 www.greenbuildermedia.com

14-53 GB 0318 HOTY.indd 20 4/11/18 3:01 PM