Building Enclosure Council: Targeting Passive House-Level Performance in New and Existing Buildings

Passive House continues to gain popularity as designers seek to improve performance, reduce carbon emissions, and optimize end-user comfort. The design concept uses solutions like stringent air tightness and minimized thermal bridging to create buildings that consume very little energy – allowing architects to program more usable areas and owners to market spaces that are more comfortable. Passive House building principles can enhance overall performance – whether for new or existing buildings, high-rise structures, or single-family homes – but require coordinated design, construction, and verification testing. In this presentation, we will explore Passive House design principles from architectural and engineering perspectives, discuss recent research efforts, and explore case studies.

Cheryl Saldanha is a Senior Consulting Engineer at Simpson Gumpertz and Heger. With over 10 years of experience, she specializes in the design and evaluation of building enclosures for new construction projects, and in the investigation and renovation of building enclosures for existing buildings. Her background is in building science, including computer simulations of to perform thermal and hygrothermal analyses of building details, and whole-building energy and daylighting analyses. Cheryl is a leader in SGH’s Building Science and Passive House practices and is a Certified Passive House Designer.