By Sean Vincent O’Keefe
All Photos Courtesy of Shape Architecture Studio
Primary among the prevailing principles of residential design, the first choice a custom homeowner must make is which way to go. Be it a site and a dream, or a vision and a budget, before choosing between countertops and faucets, lights and range hoods, the process for custom residential architecture begins with hiring a trusted advisor. Some elect to start with a builder, others hire an architect, but all who wish to own a home built for themselves must begin the journey by choosing an expert in the type of home they want and building a relationship with them.
Steve Scribner, AIA, LEED AP, CPHD, Principal of Shape Architecture Studio sees the first step as the most important.
“The first conversations with a client, discovering their site, their dreams and vision is exhilarating,” says Scribner of a process that is often so exciting for clients that they have a hard time containing themselves. “Honestly, it’s important to try to slow them down a bit. Anybody can point out the site’s amazing views or their picture-perfect kitchen pulled from the pages of a magazine, but in a client-driven process there are deeper questions about how homeowners are going to spend their time in the house.”
Scribner’s particular path to architecture though direct wasn’t fully anticipated. He grew up in Maine and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Wesleyan University before deciding to follow his heart west to the great outdoors of Colorado. In need of work, he took a job as a draftsman at a Durango design practice. Over time, he worked for several different firms learning his craft on a combination of large custom residential and small hospitality projects.
“Our practice is focused on demonstrating how super-low energy houses are far more comfortable and delightful than non-passive homes. We are trying to make each project better for our clients and hope it can have a ripple effect.”
Steve Scribner, AIA, LEED AP, CPH
Partner, Shape Architecture Studio
“As I was coming up, I loved learning how to integrate a house into the topography, how to maximize views, and getting to use high-end building materials,” says Scribner of a formative experience. “However, some of the houses themselves were probably the least sustainable things that could be built. Some of them were 20,000-SF and required cranes to erect the structure. So, I knew there had to be something better environmentally.”
For Scribner, what started as a personal pursuit for something better for his clients led to finding his calling in the principles of passive house design.
“During grad school, I was introduced to passive house principles while doing a solar decathlon project and discovered a design strategy focused on physics,” he continues. At the time, Scribner was earning a Master of Architecture degree from Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York, NY. Afterward, he spent a few more years on the East Coast at several established firms before Colorado called him back. This time he had a wife who wanted to go as well. “When I came back to Colorado, I was very interested in passive architecture based on energy building science, which is how I ended up in partnership with Morgan at Shape.”
Like Scribner, Morgan Law, CPHD, is also interested in human-centered design and the natural forces at play in passive principles. Whether it’s about the cost, the construction, or the environment, Law suggests that good decision-making is always central to good design.
“A lot of our focus is on balance, which is a core objective of passive design,” says Law of the firm he and Scribner have now grown to a staff of nine in Denver, CO. Shape Architecture Studio’s portfolio includes both single-family homes, multi-family buildings, and commercial projects spanning a broad spectrum of programs. “We excel at balancing the design side of things like a home’s natural light, comfort and air quality as well as the cost and buildability side of things like budget and sustainability.”
“What we are finding is that the techniques we employ have much deeper impacts on the home’s long-term durability, reduced maintenance, improved air quality, thermal comfort and sound attenuation.”
Morgan Law, CPHD
Parnter, Shaper Architecture Studio
Law shares that while commercial and cultural work is driven by functional purpose, pro forma, and the cost/quality/schedule equation, in custom residential, value as understood by the owner, is far more personal.
“Residential projects are so specific to the owners that it allows us to test ideas or building materials on a small scale to understand how those elements might work at a larger scale,” says Law. “Sustainability goes far beyond thinking about what is good for the environment. What we are finding is that the techniques we employ have much deeper impacts on the home’s long-term durability, reduced maintenance, improved air quality, thermal comfort, and sound attenuation.”
The objective is to create spaces that are healthy and require limited energy for thermal regulation. This is achieved through five fundamentals:
Well Insulated. Insulation levels in a passive house are significantly higher, generally in the range of R-40 to R-60 for walls, R-60 to R-90 for roofs, and R-30 for slabs for a small home, though they can be much lower and closer to code for larger structures.
Premium Windows. Windows with triple-glazing in frames made with low-thermal conductivity materials prevent heat loss, with appropriate orientation and shading to allow the window to become part of the heating system in cold months.
Eliminate Thermal Bridges. Identifying and eliminating localized areas of the building envelope where the heat flow is higher than the rest of the envelope due to either geometrical or constructive conditions.
Airtightness. Essential to reducing heat loss and the energy required to heat the home, airtightness also improves environmental comforts like air and sound quality.
Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV). Ventilation units with heat recovery ensure that warm air within the exhaust is not wasted but transferred to the incoming fresh air.
“The benefits of these simple strategies include a 90 percent reduction in heat energy, continual fresh air, and much greater holistic resilience to external factors, be it a pandemic, climate change, or the noises of the urban condition,” Law continues.
Asked what the impacts of all of this are on the architectural form, function, and fenestration, Law and Scribner feel it takes little away from the opportunity to do whatever you want. However, simplicity is a prevailing tenet.
“Eliminating thermal bridges often means avoiding complicated geometry in the building envelope. Multiple or different roof forms such as dormers, for instance, are opportunities for heat loss that aren’t necessary,” says Scribner. “Simplicity happens to align with our aesthetic preferences, but a simple form also leads to lower cost to construct and higher-level of durability.”
Law and Scribner illuminate a series of contradictions between perception and reality when it comes to the truths and consequences of passive house design.
“There are so many misconceptions about passive house design,” says Law of a problem Shape and many other passive-principled practices face when their work is assessed against traditionally configured homes. “There is an idea that they are dark, small, unhealthy and strange. That you can’t have windows or views. If you googled it, you’d probably see an Earthship in New Mexico on the first page of pictures. That’s not what we’re doing.”
Fundamentally, passive house design comes down to the shape and construction of the building envelope and the resulting home’s natural ability to circulate air. The physics of which pertains to form, fastenings and openings. The latter is what every custom homeowner seems to want the most – windows.
“Though we do want to optimize windows for the sun, certainly we’re not interested in being architects that tell clients they can’t have their north-facing view. If anything, a well-designed passive house should have more glass than a non-passive house,” says Scribner. “There are first costs in this. The windows we use are almost equivalent to a code-rated wall. They are placed to pull in and contain solar heat gain in the winter while being shaded in the summer. They are also exceptional acoustically, compared to typical windows.”
In terms of challenges, the true concern those interested in building a passive home should be aware of is the quality and conformity of construction.
“The most important thing is hiring a contractor that understands the importance of airtightness. It is imperative that the builder doesn’t mess up how all this works together by taking things out or making minor changes to materials or attachments,” continues Scribner. “The builders are the key to the finished product. So, if the builder is super engaged and wants to do great work, it’s perfect.”
Just as Law and Scribner are Certified Passive House Designers, builders can also obtain credentialing as a Certified Passive House Tradesperson. Shape pushes for contractors trained in passive house construction for their projects. Scribner points out that passive house principles shouldn’t be confused with any of the many score-card certification programs, especially when it comes to tradespersons.
“We have worked through all the various building certification programs like LEED and WELL,” says Scribner. “The training and building techniques involved in passive house certification change the way people think about construction and design. Many of the ideas are just basic building science things that improve how people live if they are built right.”
While finding a suitable builder is essential, as far as Shape Architecture Studio is concerned passive house design is ideally suited for almost any site. Their portfolio includes modernist retreats set among the mountains of Colorado in namesake destinations like Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte and Gunnison as well as urban abodes among Denver’s many distinctive neighborhoods.
“The site plays a big part in terms of what you can do. Zooming out on that a bit, Colorado is a pretty great place to practice passive principles. There is lots of sun, low humidity, and beautiful views just about everywhere,” says Law. “Anywhere makes sense. In general, you could say that the nicer the climate, the easier it is to do, and the harsher the climate, the more worthwhile it will be.”
Scribner wraps it up.
“This is about value-driven design and resilience,” he says. “Our practice is focused on demonstrating how super-low energy houses are far more comfortable and delightful than non-passive homes. We are trying to make each project better for our clients and hope it can have a ripple effect.”
Sean Vincent O’Keefe is an architecture and construction writer who crafts stories for Technology Designer and others based on 20 years of experience and a keen interest in the people who make projects happen.
