First passive house in Brazil
- by Camille Sifferlen
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- 2019-06-14 16:39:28
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- International
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- 3019 / EN
New Construction
- Building Type : Isolated or semi-detached house
- Construction Year : 2017
- Delivery year : 2017
- Address 1 - street : BR - 59290-972 0000 SãO GONçALO DO AMARANTE (NORTHEAST), Brazil
- Climate zone : [As] Tropical dry
- Net Floor Area : 56 m2
- Construction/refurbishment cost : 68 000 €
- Cost/m2 : 1214.29 €/m2
Certifications :
-
Primary energy need :
113 kWhpe/m2.year
(Calculation method : Other )
We imported bricks from a company called LIAPAN, because these bricks can be produced in Brazil and they are not burnt as the ones we have on the market, which will help reducing the CO2 emission from brick companies.
The main focus is to improve Brazilian building standards construction to make people pay more attention to air quality, thermal comfort, energy spending, amongst others.
The house is located at SENAI, which is a school focused on developing construction labor (from Brick layers to Construction coordinators). This pilot project will be used to spread Passive House technologies: it will serve as a seminar room for hand labor, engineers, architects and anyone who is curious about it.
We also want to use this building to convince local manufacturers to produce the required high performance components. This will have a social impact, with the creation of new jobs and knowledge sharing.
In this project we also have an irrigation system (EcoRain – Germany) which can save up to 70% of water for grass irrigation, the whole system is automated. This system is way better than what we have available on our market because it avoids the over use of water because of evaporation, and also guarantees that every part is irrigated with the same amount of water (differently than the spliclers we have available).
See more details about this project
https://passivehouse-database.org/#d_5892Data reliability
3rd part certified
Photo credit
Luiz Bezerra
Contractor
Construction Manager
Stakeholders
Designer
Felipe Bezerra Arquitetos - Brasil, Architekten Stein Hemmes Wirtz - GermanyStructures calculist
Joel AraujoCertification company
Passive House Institute Camille SifferlenContracting method
Other methods
Owner approach of sustainability
The idea behind this project was to bring some of the best construction practices available in the world. For instance, passive house standards deliver a very low energy consumption with a great air and temperature quality.
We also want to focus on developing the construction standards in Brazil by helping manufatures improve their products and train the hand labor. The house is located in a school for workers such as construction coordinators, brick layers, technicians, etc.Architectural description
To deliver suitable design we had help from Germany, because passive house design is currently not really known in Brazil.The idea behind is to create an environment where we will teach about passive houses to anyone who is interested in, and let people feel the difference between the regular construction in Brazil and a Certified passive house.
Energy consumption
- 113,00 kWhpe/m2.year
- 300,00 kWhpe/m2.year
Envelope performance
- 0,49
Product
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LIAPLAN ULTRA 08

Gros œuvre / Structure, maçonnerie, façade
Uv= 0.08 W/(mK) - Dimensions: 24,8 x 36,5 x 24,9
It's made out of clay and it's not burnt during its fabrication process.
We decided to use a material which can be produced in our regions (bricks made out of clay). For this house we imported all the bricks from Germany, but at the moment we are looking for manufacturers to start producing the bricks in Brazil.
We also want to use this building to convince local manufacturers to produce the required high performance components. This will have a social impact, with teh creation of new jobs and knowledge sharing.
Contest categories

Energy & Hot Climates

Low Carbon

Health & Comfort

Users' Choice
Author of the page
Camille Sifferlen
Project Manager
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