Passive Building (House) 101, (a free online webinar) introduces the performance-based principles of passive building design for architects, specifiers, owners, and construction professionals. Using the Phius framework and project examples from Northern New England, our presenter will explain how climate-responsive design, continuous thermal and air-control layers, high-performance windows and doors, balanced ventilation, and right-sized mechanical systems work together to improve occupant comfort, indoor air quality, durability, resilience, and energy performance.

The session will also review the modeling, interdisciplinary coordination, detailing, specifications, construction quality assurance, testing, and commissioning needed to carry performance goals through design and construction. Participants will leave with practical strategies that can improve any project, even when Passive House certification is not pursued.

Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this, participants will be able to:

• Describe the core principles and climate-specific performance framework of passive building design, and explain how they support occupant comfort, health, energy efficiency, and resilience.
• Identify enclosure strategies—including continuous insulation, reduced thermal bridging, high-performance windows and doors, and airtight construction—and evaluate their effects on surface temperatures, condensation risk, moisture durability, and occupant comfort.
• Explain how airtightness, balanced mechanical ventilation, and right-sized heating and cooling systems work together to maintain indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and safe interior conditions.
• Outline an integrated delivery and verification process using energy modeling, interdisciplinary coordination, construction documents and specifications, quality assurance, blower-door testing, and commissioning to achieve and confirm project performance.

Bio
Hans Breaux, AIA, CSI, NCARB, LEED, CPHC, is the founder and Principal Architect of Project CO+OP, a worker-owned architecture and sustainability practice based in Portland, Maine. Licensed in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, Hans specializes in high-performance architecture, Passive House consulting, energy modeling, and the integration of building enclosures and mechanical systems.

Hans is a Phius Certified Consultant and Trainer, serves as the Phius Alliance Upper Northeast Regional Representative, and teaches sustainable design at the University of Maine at Augusta. His Passive House work includes Maine Coast Waldorf High School—the first certified Passive House high school in the United States—and Clay Brook Passive House, New Hampshire’s first Phius-certified single-family home and a Phius Source Zero project.

Through Project CO+OP, Hans helps owners, architects, and builders translate ambitious performance goals into comfortable, durable, resilient, and practical buildings—whether certification is the goal or Passive House principles are being applied selectively.

Submitted for AIA CES credit

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