72 | MAC Architecture ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Passive design a drawcard Sustainability, thermal comfort and occupant health form a strong part of the design process. Sue Russell Wellington Architectural Designer and Certified Passive House Designer, Jason Macquet has held a passion for design and architecture all his life, spurred on, he believes by the fact that his mother was a draftsperson. He attended Victoria University because it offered the best option to gain a Master of Architecture degree and to eventually set him up for the registration process following. “While I was still at University, I worked part time at JTB Architects and then once I completed my degree I worked full-time with them for a further five years, during which time I gained my LBP certification,” Jason explains. He intends to pursue full registration and these days has his own practice, specialising in high performance residential design. Working with him are two colleagues and the plan, in time, is to slowly grow the practice. Jason has been increasingly drawn toward Passive House design. Sustainability, thermal comfort and occupant health form a strong part of the design process and the type of projects Mac Architecture completes. It’s important, he says, that there’s a good fit with his clients and that the project is one that carries similar values to his. He is careful in the early interaction with clients to discover what it is they want to feel and experience in their home and its especially important that clients have realistic timeframes and a budgets that can deliver what it is they want. “We also consider the site and whether it is one we find interesting in terms of design potential.” Jason’s association with Passive House goes back to a time when, with JTB Architects, he was involved in setting up the Kāinga Ora Retrofit Programme, which involved the use of thermal modelling with Passive House Certifier Jason Quinn. “In my earlier projects I was always interested in passive solar design. But once I heard about Passive House, which is all physics and science based, things just made complete sense to me that this was the best way to design a home which is healthy and comfortable for those living inside.” Today, Jason designs with Passive House principles underpinning his approach from the very start. He says one thing stopping more people choosing to build a Passive House is the lack of available suppliers in New Zealand. This is an important development that needs to occur here for the overall cost of a Passive Home to come more into line with existing construction methodologies. “In the UK, now, give an increase in supply and a mainstreaming of Passive House design, the cost to build is around 5% higher than a ‘code built’ home which is really encouraging.” Jason also thinks that those months when most of us were locked down at home, though bringing many challenges, it did allow people time to consider what it was like living in their homes all the time and to understand that their home could be better designed to improve the quality and comfort of their experience. “There’s definitely been an uptake in the high performance, low energy projects.” Kāinga Ora are now building several multi-unit homes to Passive House standard which, Jason says, is extremely encouraging. MAC Architecture are members of PHINZ, the Passive House Institute of New Zealand, and the NZ Green Building Council, and now they are also listed through the eHaus brand as a recommended designers. “eHaus have developed their own high performance categories where every house is thermally modelled, with the eHaus Euro meeting the Passive House standard.” While Mac Architecture has projects under construction across the country, many of their projects are in the Greater Wellington area and there has been growing interest from clients wanting to build in the Wairarapa and Kapiti. “I’m very pleased with what we have achieved to date with my interest in Passive House and high performance building design. It certainly is the way of the future because living in homes designed with these principles in mind deliver long lasting environmental, comfort, health, energy usage and cost benefits to homeowners. 04 472 1412 www.cbp.co.nz Clendon Burns & Park Ltd has operated as a rm of Consulting Structural and Civil Engineers in Wellington for over 65 years. Our ability to provide specialist structural engineering skills in a small, versatile and highly personalised team environment is one of the key reasons so many of our clients have been returning to us for decades. Proudly involved with MAC Architecture Architectural Builders · Wellington & Wairarapa, NZ @countryandcoastconstruction
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=