Session · Practice and business · Designers and consultants · Builders and trades

Design Coordination when Building a Passive House

Michael Wilks, Bauen Build; Matt Brill, Bauen Build; Steve Scribner · May 21, 2026 · Chapter · PHRM (Passive House Rocky Mountains)

Bauen Build and Shape Architecture Studio on the Flatiron House, where the Passive House consultant and the mechanical and structural engineers worked together from the start, for a smooth pre-certification and cost-effective, ultra-low-energy design.

Key points

• How early multidisciplinary collaboration reduces risk.
• Bringing energy-model-informed decisions into early design.
• Coordinating mechanical routing, envelope details, and thermal bridges.
• Code-compliant answers to permitting constraints such as solar bulk planes.

Topics: Quality assurance