Passive House

Britain's Imperial War Museum (IWM) recently gained a new archive to help house its vast collection of records. The IWM Paper Store is one seriously energy efficient building and is also the most airtight Passivhaus project to date, according to International Passivhaus Association records.

2018 has been an interesting year for residential architecture, with advances in tech and sustainable building practices resulting in many great homes. We've narrowed them down to 10 favorites, including a starchitect-designed luxury house, a 3D-printed mud hut, and a sustainable hobbit hole.

The Mountain House in upstate New York, by Amalgam Studio, very much follows a low-energy approach to heating and cooling, while honoring the history of the area with all the aesthetic hallmarks of a good ol’ fashioned countryside barn.​

​​Today’s architects have a lot of considerations to juggle when drawing up new homes, from the aesthetics to the functionality to the environmental footprint. Here we present eight that adhere to the low-carbon Passive House standard and are particularly easy on the eye. ​

Utah’s Summit Park is home to an eye-catching new hillside abode consisting of stacked cubes that gently rotate as they head up toward the canopy. The recently completed Treehaus has a big focus on energy efficiency to soften the blow of the area's harsh winter climate.

Perkins+Will has unveiled plans for a new building in York University's Keele Campus, in Toronto, Canada. Commissioned following an architectural competition, it's slated for LEED Gold certification, or higher, and will boast a significant amount of sustainable tech.

Residential architecture is going through an exciting time and this is reflected in the homes we've covered during the past 12 months. A floating off-grid luxury pad, a 3D-printed house, and a sustainable home that can be built in a few days all feature in our pick of the best houses of 2017.

An elevated 200-sq m (2,152-sq ft) Passivhaus treehouse, Dursley Treehouse is a stunning family home built above a series of screwpiles specifically designed for minimal impact on the ground.

The stunning 10 Star Home was built with a zero-waste philosophy and was designed to positively exceed its carbon footprint over its lifespan, anticipating savings of 203 kg (507 lb) of carbon emissions per occupant per year.

UK Passivhaus specialist Mike Jacob has joined with award-winning architect Adrian James to create a flatpack home that takes less than a week to install. Offering two, three and four bedroom versions, the Kiss House is built using cross-laminated timber.

Oslo Airport has received a smart-looking new extension courtesy of Nordic – Office of Architecture. Featuring an interesting curved design, the building is hailed the "world's greenest terminal" by the firm and certainly has some impressive sustainable design.

The cannabis plant isn't only useful for getting stoned. Green Built has high hopes that it can bring cannabis construction into the US mainstream with its sustainable tiny house built from hemp.