Conjure an image of home. Of your elementary school. Of your office. They’re familiar. Now imagine your own Passive House. More difficult, right? But what if Passive House can describe a school, an apartment building, a factory, an office or a home? And it does. What if Passive House design can be modern, historical, vernacular, high and low design. And it can. What if the “House” in Passive House is a metaphor for all building types of every style? And it is. Then perhaps we can all imagine our own Passive House.

To help us imagine, let’s look at images in a tour through the Passive House Institute’s international Passive House Database. (The ID number links to the project page…with slight delay in connection.) Can you imagine working there, shopping there, living there? Find your Passive House in a world of Passive Houses.

Museum:  14,000 SF museum of modern art.  ID 2951

Office Building, high-rise:  225,000 SF, 20 stories.  ID 2860 (More information here.)

Elementary School:  9,600 SF.  ID 2961 (More info at consultant’s website here.)

Supermarket:  43,000 SF.  ID 1751

Mixed-Use: 2,100 SF live and work space.  ID 2558  (More info here and here.)

Mixed-Use: 2,000 SF home and office.  ID 2616  (More info from architect here.)

Multi-family home, low-rise: 146 units, 140,000 SF 7 stories.  ID 1046

Multi-family home, high-rise:  : 140 Units, 92,000 SF, 16 stories.  ID 1905 (More information here.)

Nursing Home:  100 unit, 20,000 SF.  ID 3443

Health Care:  50,000 SF Health Center.  ID 3824

Church:  4,300 SF.  ID 0712

Factory: 55,500 SF factory.  ID 3612

Sport Facility:  10,500 SF gymnasium. ID 0007

Office Building, mid-rise:  59,000 SF office building.  ID 2141

Hotel:  99 rooms, 12,000 SF.  ID 2341

Retail Store:  2,300 SF store.  ID 3764

And yes, even the iconic single family detached home:  2,300 SF.  ID 3010  (More info from architect here.)

Passive House is young and the potential possibilities are almost limitless.   Just imagine.