The Nation’s First Commercial Passive House Retrofi t Demonstrates the Concept’s Suitability for Commercial Buildings
WRITTEN BY | CHRISTINA KOCH Retrofit Team >>
OWNER AND CONTRACTOR: Hammer & Hand, Portland, Ore., hammerandhand.com
ARCHITECT: Scott Edwards Architecture, Portland, www.seallp.com
Despite media reports that the economic downturn has diminished interest in green- building materials and environmentally sensitive building practices, Sam Hagerman, co-owner of Hammer & Hand, a remodeling contractor and home builder with locations in Portland, Ore., and Seattle, has found just the opposite to be true. When the economy hit the skids in 2008, Hagerman wanted to protect his employees from possible layoffs, so he diversifi ed his business in several ways, including by creating a home performance and building science division. After Hagerman and business partner
Daniel Thomas were left uninspired by LEED, they embraced one of the most intensive green-building guidelines available: Passive
House. According to the Urbana, Ill.-based Passive House Institute U.S., a Passive House is a very well-insulated, virtually airtight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc. When Hagerman went through the Pas-
sive House consultants’ training he found a group of kindred spirits, “people doing really excellent work for all the right reasons.” He adds: “Passive House is a great example of how the built environment can be radically improved in almost every way by the study of building science and the application of building physics. If you really understand what’s going on with a building, you can lower the heat load to the point where you don’t need a traditional heat source. I think that is really exciting.” And what better way to demonstrate