Crossway - the Grand Design Eco Arch
As a Grand Designs project, Crossway is a very exciting Passive House project, incorporating new technologies.Crossway is on it's way to certification at the moment.
Now official: Richard Hawke's Eco Arch achieved Passive House certification on the 12th July 2010.
Ian Theoboldt, the PH certifier of the SPHC took on the challenge to calculate the energy consumption of this unusual building. We all were very excited to see if the monitored energy consumption of the first year would be reflected in the theoretical calculations. After some very extensive work with the PHPP, the results mirrowed exactly the measured reality, which is another proof that the Passive House Planning Package is a very refined energy calculation tool, which stood the test of the most complicated design.
Below is Richard's brief of his project:
- a respectful design for its countryside location;
- zero carbon passive design;
- create habitat for native flora and fauna;
- use local materials wherever possible;
- 4 bedrooms, c.3000 sqft;
- a light and healthy family home
Crossway feels rooted in its context, its arch shape helping to minimise its mass. The living meadow arch gives the effect of the landscape being lifted up with timber framed structures nestled beneath. The colour and texture of local clay bricks and tiles along with locally grown cedar cladding help instil a sense of familiarity in the Kent countryside. Crossway looks to the south like a camera lens capturing the beautiful views whilst practically harnessing the sun for light and heat through passive solar gain.
Spanning 20m and 8.5m high the vaulted arch is only 120mm thick yet supports 300mm site spoil seeded with meadow plants from nearby Marden nature reserve. Built using 26,000 clay tiles dug and hand made 4 miles away, the porous clay naturally regulates humidity and the vast thermal mass regulates temperature providing healthy, airy internal space. Heat recovery ventilation, triple glazing and high insulation minimise the energy needs of the house.
Newspapers, car tyres and crushed bottles used in the lime mortar and in the polished ground floor are but a few of the recycled materials used. Pioneering energy systems generate electricity and store thermal energy. On-site waste treatment and rainwater harvesting are also in place. A monitoring system relays building performance data to Cambridge University for ongoing research.
- How did you come to build to Passive House pronciples?
--> We started by wanting a house with low running costs and to be built using local materials then just got carried away with everything and went the whole hog; passive, zero carbon, you name it.
- How does it all work together?
--> Inevitable teething problems getting PV-T to work with PCM thermal stores and biomass wood pellet back-up but now functioning effortlessly. It just does it's stuff. 100% free hot water since March and almost 700KWh of electricity generated since the end of June is very satisfying !
- What is your experience of living in such a house?
--> MVHR is awesome - the house always feels perfect. Airtightness is brilliant - no draughts so we never feel chilly. Temp never drops below 16 deg C - happy at 19 deg C due to calmness of the air. Relative humidity regulates at 51% so perfect and no dust mites etc. Operating controls is no different from a normal house ie room stat & timer controls. We will have to keep an eye on the wood pellet hopper if it has to be used but is hasn't yet.
The Results
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