Boise Passive House’s bold gestures support an environmentally friendly design
Boise Passive House by Haas Architecture combines sleek, contemporary design and environmental efficiency
The Boise Passive House, perched above a steep slope overlooking the Idaho city's Crestline Ridge, sits on the edge between urban and rural. The project, designed by San Francisco-based Haas Architecture, headed by Christopher Haas, was a commission for a family of five's 'forever' home – and sought to work with the site's existing ecology while bringing in purpose-driven, contemporary design.
Boise Passive House: modern, environmental design
Subtly weaving sustainable architecture principles that ensure the new home is sensitive to its environment, the design team orientated the views towards the Owyhee mountain range in the distance for maximum visual effect in the living experience.
'Sustainability, resilience, well-being and preserving the native ecology as core values, acted as the driving force of the project’s design and net-zero goals,' the architects write.
Making use of orientation, careful material selection and massing in order to reduce the building site's and home's overall energy consumption were priorities during the design. The architecture is enhanced, as opposed to compromised, by such an approach, the architects highlighted.
'The project’s uniquely shaped roof (derived from extensive 3D solar modelling), leverages passive fundamentals, by optimising the sun’s free energy. The design allows the home to embrace the sun’s winter warmth while restricting summer solar heat gain, as the roof tracks the sun’s seasonal paths to optimise solar benefits.'
Working towards the same goal, the use of pre-fabricated components (SIP – Structural Insulated Panels – and ICF – Insulated Concrete Forms) helped keep cost, labour, installation time and material waste down.
Meanwhile, the use of natural materials, the light and ventilation strategy, and the design team's overall sensitive development also support the inhabitants' health and wellness - supported by the interior design by Pappas Miron. Boise Passive House exemplifies how modern architecture can harmoniously coexist with environmentally friendly techniques and a mindful approach, to striking effect.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn project
The first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Tour Ray's Seagram Building HQ, an ode to art and modernism in New York City
Real estate venture Ray’s Seagram Building HQ in New York is a homage to corporate modernism
By Diana Budds Published
-
Populus by Studio Gang, the ‘first carbon positive hotel in the US’ takes root in Denver
Populus by Studio Gang opens in Denver, offering a hotel with a distinctive, organic façade and strong sustainability credentials
By Siska Lyssens Published
-
This Californian home offers the unexpected through ‘deconstructed’ desert living
Gardens & Villas, a home in La Quinta, California, brings contemporary luxury to its desert setting through a collaboration between architects Andrew McClure and Christopher McLean
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
First look inside 62 Reade Street, a clock factory turned family home
62 Reade Street, a boutique New York residential project by architects ODA, unveils its first apartment interior, styled courtesy of Hovey Design
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Paul Rudolph at The Met: ‘from Christmas lights to megastructures’
‘Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph’ opens at the Met in New York, exploring the modernist master's work through a feast of an exhibition
By Stephanie Murg Published
-
Jewel Box is a Californian project of small scale and big impact
Jewel Box by Red Dot Studio is the reimagining of a Californian 20th-century gem through a creative addition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Germane Barnes exhibition explores notions of classical architecture and identity
Germane Barnes exhibition 'Columnar Disorder' opens at the Art Institute of Chicago
By Ellie Stathaki Published