250.448.4307
East Kelowna Farmhouse
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
#Net Zero #Passive House
This home was designed with a traditional farmhouse aesthetic on the street side which transitions to a modern aesthetic on the private side. From the private side of the home there are views to a horse pasture, extensive gardens, mature pine trees, a new barn, stables, and over five acres of new apple orchard.
The high performance thermal envelope is fitted with high performance, tripled glazed and gasketed windows which are shaded from the western setting sun by either roof eaves or exterior mounted motorized shades that allow the patio to be enjoyed no matter the time of day all while keeping the interior temperature of the home comfortable with a minimal amount of active cooling.
Part of the larger project was the opportunity to design a classic barn influenced by rural structures found throughout the prairie provinces, specifically Saskatchewan. The design includes a prefabricated glulam post and beam structural frame with carefully detailed clear powder coat steel connections.
For more project specific details please carry on to the bottom of the page.
Project Overview
1. Superinsulation - an insulated 2x6 load bearing wall with vertical 9-1/2 I-joists filled with densepack cellulose insulation, sheeted with vapour permeable exterior grade gypsum and then wrapped with a a fully taped and sealed WRB, rain screen and then board and batten cladding the exterior walls are an effective R45, the roof is R90, and the slab R36.
2. Airtight - using a two membrane approach of taped and sealed Proclima Intello X, Tyvek, and rod and caulked windows/doors the final blower door test was 0.98 ACH which we were very pleased with considering this is not a simple box by any means
3. Thermal Bridge Free - there are only two linear bridges in the entire design including the concrete foundation strip footing and one 10' wide cantilevers concrete slab which we tried to eliminate but had to retain so we accounted for these in the energy model and then overcame with other strategies. As Building Codes in Canada aren't quite ready for air admittance valves the only other thermal bridges include the plumbing vent stacks.
4. High Performance Windows/Doors - a combination of Passive House certified products
5. Fresh Air Ventilation with Heat + Humidity Recovery - a Zehnder 550 ERV constantly circulates fresh air throughout the house
6. Efficient heating/cooling provided by a Mitsubishi air source mini split heat pump
7. Shading and Preventing of Overheating was key in the design and the dominant windows face west so motorized, exterior mounted Phantom Screens were placed on the exterior columns allowing the heat to be cut even when sitting on the balcony enjoying the beautiful pool