Passive House Event in Westport

WESTPORT, CT - From William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty: William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty today announced that agents from the company will attend an event at which Salvatore Zarrella and Michael Block of Construction Management Group will be giving a presentation and discussion on Passive House design and its possibilities. The company has listed for sale the first-ever Passive House for sale in New Canaan, Conn., and sold the first two Passive Houses ever built in Stamford, Conn. The upcoming event is a joint effort between Design Within Reach and CMG and will be held at the Design Within Reach Westport Studio on Thursday, August 3rd at 6 p.m.

Zarrella and Block will speak about using this innovative approach to build beautiful and livable buildings that embrace the tenets of modernism and good design. Physicist Wolfgang Feist is credited with developing the principles for Passive House building in Germany during the 1990s, including the most critical elements: the air tightness of the building envelope (the home’s shell), thicker exterior insulation, reduction of inefficient energy pathways, triple-pane high-efficiency windows that keep the home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, and HRV units that bring fresh air inside while taking the heat from stale indoor air before expelling it outdoors.

Common techniques in Passive building include orienting the interiors to take full advantage of sunlight, with spaces such as closets and garages occupying areas of the home that would not benefit as much from the sun; adding thick, highly insulated walls; and installing windows and ventilation systems that exchange indoor and outdoor air in a way that keeps rooms at a comfortable, moderate temperature year round without the need for heating or air conditioning systems.

CMG is responsible for building the first ever Passive Houses in New Canaan and Stamford, Conn. Listed for sale for $4,195,000, the proposed 4,000 square-foot New Canaan home on 1.74 acres will include four bedrooms with en-suite baths, an additional half bath, two terraces and a three-car garage. Like the two Stamford properties that recently sold and are currently under construction, it is designed by architect Lucien Vita.

“These homes are at once practical and beautiful, with a superior quality of building,” said Block. “The amount of interest we have been generating, just from the initial design renderings alone, has been tremendous.”

For more information on Passive House design, click here and for more on this one-of-a-kind offering, please visit the listing on our site here.

Image via William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty