Passive House LA+ (PHLA+) Tour

Passive House LA+ (PHLA+) Tour

Passive House LA+ (PHLA+), a recently completed home in Culver City, California, is one of the most energy efficient homes constructed in Los Angeles County. Achieving many firsts for a residence in the region, it is a Certified Passive House, a Zero Net Energy home (ZNE), and among the first Passive Houses built in Southern California.

PHLA+ is a project designed by PARAVANT Architects, and is strategically planned to showcase the back-end technologies and benefits of the Passive House building standard. Christian Kienapfel, both the homeowner and project architect, began this project with the goal of building a home that could be an example of what’s possible for the Southern California region in Passive House building. As such, PHLA+ will be a case study and demonstration project that will be open to educate and inform the Los Angeles Design/Build community.

PHLA+ is located on a duplex lot, an infill site, and is comprised of 1,750 sq.ft. of living area with an additional large deck area over a carport. The home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Large windows provide sufficient natural daylight and a connection between indoor and outdoor living even with this home’s limited footprint. Exterior fully automated venetian blinds reduce internal heat gain, and glare, effectively keeping the house cooler and comfortable. The entire building envelope including the windows, wall systems, airtightness and insulation are combined to produce bottom line, significant energy cost savings not possible with conventional building practices. The goal of healthy indoor air quality is met by continuous ventilation in combination with a highly efficient heat-recovery ventilator (HRV).

PHLA+ is a fossil (gas) free home using electrification as a decarburization strategy. This all electric building is using a high efficient heat pump water heater, induction cook top, convection oven and condensation dryer. A ~5.4kW (5,360 watts) photovoltaic system with a 14 kWh storage battery makes this home 93% self performing relying only for a very small percentage of power from the electric grid. All these measures make this home net zero – or possibly plus – energy, reducing the utility bills for a lifetime.

• CPHC: Sylvia Wallis, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC
• PH: CertiPHiers, T. Everhart, C. Snyder & team
• Marketing: KNB Associates
• T-24: Avery Colter, Fard Engineers, Inc
• HERS: Dav Camras
• Photography: Fraser Almeida
• Contractor: Guillermo Delgadillo & Team

TOUR LED BY

Christian Kienapfel – AIA Architect, LEED AP (USA), CPHD (Certified Passive House Designer), Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Architekt, LEED AP (Germany)

Born in West-Berlin and raised in Germany, Christian Kienapfel received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Cottbus. Christian came to the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar and received a Master Degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech. He is member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), LEED AP and a licensed architect in Germany and in California. Christian has over 20 years of international experience in the architectural profession with the planning of various building types in the U.S., Germany, Italy, Malaysia and Costa Rica, including commercial buildings, theaters, high-rise construction, religious & community projects as well single and multi-family residential buildings. He has taught architecture, hospitality/interior design studios and been invited as guest lecturer at various international conferences. Christian Kienapfel is a Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD) and serves as a board member of Passive House California (PHCA). He is the architect of Passive House LA (PHLA+) one of the first new construction Passive Houses in Southern California.

CREDITS

• Passive House California (PHCA)
• North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)
• PARAVANT Architects

PHOTOGRAPHY: Fraser Almeida