Heating technology in the seventies relied on active systems of solar energy (through solar panels, ground collector, heatpump, etc.) to power the house with alternative energy. Only small southern facing windows and greenhouse constrution provided direct gain for living space.
20 years later after reconstruction the building it became a "habitable solar panel", now powers the house with passive solar energy.
Through improvements in roof- and exterior wall insulation by maximzing all possibilities to obtain direct gain, heat demant was reduced to 50% 20 kWh/m²a (6.340 Btu/ft²y)
A 100 m² south - facing insulation glass reflects the garden and the mountain scenery in a curving wave. This design enables a basic passive solar concept: southern - facing orientation of all living rooms, excellent insulation of roof and walls (about 30 cm = 12 inches), 25 m² (280 ft²) southern - facing two story high-quality insulating glass for direct gain, a 50 m² (560 ft²) greenhouse and 25 m² (280 ft²) "sunwalls” providing heat storage with high-quality glass used as “transparent insulation”.
Arch. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Josef Király - Sonnenhaus- Passivhaus - Niedrigenergiehaus - 6073 Sistrans - Tirol - Österreich - Tel: 0043 512 378 122 - E-mail:
arch@kiraly.at
