Guacamayas, Colombia: Passivhaus terraced housing

ideadmin on 26 March 2026

Guacamayas, Puerto Madero is an ambitious 19‑hectare eco‑community near Cartagena, Colombia, designed to Passive House standard and Low-energy terraced housing planned to scale to more than 2,000 dwellings.

Guacamayas, Colombia: Passivhaus terraced housing

Passivhaus certification

Description

Guacamayas, Puerto Madero (Cartagena, Colombia)
PHI Low Energy Building certification

Guacamayas, Puerto Madero is an ambitious 19‑hectare eco‑community near Cartagena, Colombia, designed to Passive House standard and planned to scale to more than 2,000 dwellings.

Praxis acted as Passivhaus certifier for the project, working alongside Eficasia and Consinfra to translate high‑performance building science into a hot‑humid Caribbean context. Our scope combined PHPP review with field verification and targeted recommendations to de‑risk performance and durability.

Puerto Madero’s vision is to mainstream resilient, ultra‑low‑energy housing in tropical climates, using design strategies such as orientation, shading devices, reflective colours, cellulose/EPS insulation, and efficient dehumidification / ventilation / cooling—to drive deep demand reduction and lower running costs for residents. The wider development, located ~7 km from Cartagena’s historic centre, continues to advance as a benchmark for climate‑adaptive, health‑first housing in Latin America.

The project won the international Construction21 Green Solutions Awards 2024-2025 in the Health & Comfort category, winning Special Mention for Hot Climates.

Guacamayas demonstrates how Passive House know‑how can be thoughtfully adapted to the hot and humid climates in the Caribbean—delivering comfort, air quality, and robust efficiency in a replicable way.

Green Solutions Awards Guacamayas Puerto Madero

Green Solutions Awards Guacamayas Puerto Madero - Health and Comfort Prize

Green Solutions Awards Guacamayas Puerto Madero - Hot Climates Prize

Photos: Eficasia & Consinfra

Year: 2026
Location: Guacamayas, Puerto Madero, Cartagena, Colombia
Architecture: Eficasia, Consinfra
Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus certification
Passivhaus Certification Class: PHI Low Energy Building
Climate zone: Hot
Floor area: 190 m2
Thermal envelope area: 586 m2
Blower Door result: 0,99 n50
Heating Demand: 60 kWh/m2·a
Cooling Demand: 118 kWh/m2·a
Primary Energy Renewable consumption: 61 kWh/m2·a
Final Energy consumption: 61 kWh/m2·a
Renewable energy generation: 0 kWh/m2·a
CO2eq emissions: 20 kg/m2·a

Dillon House, USA: office building EnerPHit retrofit

ideadmin on 23 March 2026

Dillon House is a three‑storey, 5,800 ft² administrative building at Harvard Business School, home to the MBA Admissions office.

Dillon House, USA: historic office building EnerPHit retrofit

Passivhaus certification and Retrofit

Description

Dillon House, Harvard Business School — EnerPHit certification, design-stage review

Dillon House is a three‑storey, 5,800 ft² administrative building at Harvard Business School, home to the MBA Admissions office. Designed in Georgian‑Revival style as part of the original campus plan and ultimately constructed in 1965, the building’s cultural value and façade character were central constraints for the retrofit strategy.

RDH Building Science led the Passive House design consulting for the project. Praxis was appointed by designLAB architects as the Passivhaus Certifier.

Our Design Stage Review identified design strategies to meet EnerPHit+I Component Method certification. We also provided recommendations for alternative certification pathways, given that planning restrictions and cost constraints presented challenges for compliance with the EnerPHit Component and Primary Energy targets…for example, EnerPHit Step‑by‑Step: an approach that pre‑certifies the first retrofit phase against a comprehensive EnerPHit Retrofit Plan (ERP), with full certification upon completion of all planned steps (after achieving ≥ 20% reduction in PE/PER or demand in the first step).

Photo: School Wide

Year: 2024

Location: Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

Architecture: DesignLAB Arquitects

Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus certification and Retrofit

Classe de certificación Passivhaus: EnerPHit+i (Component method) Classic

Climate zone: Cool-temperate

Floor area: 331 m2

Thermal envelope area: 874 m2

Blower Door result: 1,04 n50

Heating Demand: 68 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: 12 kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption EPR: 170 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 160 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 0 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 92 kg/m2·a

LILU´s House: bio-based Passivhaus Plus

praxisadmin on 18 June 2022

Passivhaus design and consultancy, for this single-family house in Abrera, Barcelona, designed by architecture firm OMB Arquitectura and built by House Habitat.

LILU´s house: bio-based Passivhaus

Passivhaus, Blower Door

Description

Passivhaus design and consultancy, for this single-family house in Abrera, Barcelona, designed by architecture firm OMB Arquitectura and built by House Habitat.

The home has 143 m2 distributed over 2 floors, it will be the headquarters of the company House Habitat and a research unit for companies and universities. It is in the process of Passivhaus Plus certification.

Praxis has delivered the PHPP modelling, design of the thermal envelope and airtight layer, advice on low-impact materials, analysis and optimization of thermal bridges and construction details, and dynamic hygrothermal analysis of risk from moisture damage with the WUFI tool.

Praxis has also undertaken the Blower Door testing and on-site Passivhaus supervision and quality control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ3Fx_TfkE0

https://passivehouse-database.org/index.php#d_7032

https://www.plataforma-pep.org/ejemplos-ph/lilus-house/

Year: 2022

Location: Abrera, Barcelona

Services:
Blower Door, Passivhaus

El Niu: multi-residential Passivhaus, Andorra

ideadmin on 3 April 2024

El Niu, Plurifamiliar Passivhaus - Exterior

El Niu, meaning the “Nest” in Catalan, is Andorra’s first multi-residential Passivhaus Plus certified building, and was certified by Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings, developed by Lluis Lopez Castro of Propietats y Gestió, and designed by Antoni Martí.

El Niu: multi-residential Passivhaus, Andorra

Passivhaus Certification

Description

Nestled up at 1275 meters above sea level, El Niu houses 11 dwelling units with a total TFA of 1292 m2 over 4 floors.

Heating and hot water is provided by Pichler PKOM 4 compact heat pump units, providing heat recovery ventilation, heating, cooling, and hot water generation.

The façade consists of two different steel frame systems: the Passivhaus certified Passivhaus External Wall System by Knauf Insulation, and the Archisol and Promisol systems by Arcelor Mittal.

A 37,7 kWp solar PV array is projected to generate 91 % what the building consumes, turning it into a nearly net-zero energy powerhouse that uses approximately 71% less than pre-2010 buildings en Andorra, while emitting only 5976 kg of CO2eq per annum.

Links:

PEP (Spanish Passivhaus Platform)

iPHa (International Passivhaus Projects Database)

Photos: Lluis Lopez Castro

Year: 2024

Location: Ordino, Andorra

Architecture: Despatx d’arquitectura Antoni Martí

Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus Certification, thermal bridge calculations

Passivhaus Certification Class: Passivhaus Plus

Floor area: 1.292 m2

Thermal envelope area: 2.677 m2

Blower Door result: 0,6 n50

Heating Demand: 20 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: – kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption EPR: 37 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 31 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 28 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 11 kg/m2·a

Arctic Wall Passivhaus Component certification

praxisadmin on 6 September 2022

Description Passivhaus Component certification of the Hormipresa Arctic Wall construction system: a fully industrialized, high thermal inertia solution with an exterior white concrete finish. It has been certified as a Passivhaus component for the warm-temperate climate zone. To reach the Passivhaus Component certification Praxis undertook three-dimensional simulations of the wall to determine the thermal effect …

Hormipresa Arctic Wall Passivhaus Component certification

Passivhaus Certification

Description

Passivhaus Component certification of the Hormipresa Arctic Wall construction system: a fully industrialized, high thermal inertia solution with an exterior white concrete finish. It has been certified as a Passivhaus component for the warm-temperate climate zone.

To reach the Passivhaus Component certification Praxis undertook three-dimensional simulations of the wall to determine the thermal effect of the steel connections penetrating the insulation layer using Dartwim Mold Pro 3D and Flixo Pro finite element simulation packages.

We calculated and optimised 10 standardised construction details, as required by the certification, associated with wall, roof, and floor connection details, and window installations. Praxis managed the certification process with the Passivhaus Institut.

The certification criteria for warm-temperate climate requires a U_wall ≤ 0.25 W/m2·K and all construction details must be thermal bridge free with Ψ ≤ 0.01 W/m·K.

Year: 2022

Location: Barcelona

Services: Passivhaus component certification

McCartney residence, Passivhaus, New Zealand

ideadmin on 5 June 2025

Description The McCartney Residence is located in New Plymouth, on the North Island of New Zealand. The home was built by eHaus, a company established in 2010 by Jon Iliffe and Baden & Glenda Brown with the dream of creating a New Zealand owned and operated specialist design and construction company using PassivHaus build and …

McCartney residence, Passivhaus, New Zealand

Passivhaus Certification

Description

The McCartney Residence is located in New Plymouth, on the North Island of New Zealand. The home was built by eHaus, a company established in 2010 by Jon Iliffe and Baden & Glenda Brown with the dream of creating a New Zealand owned and operated specialist design and construction company using PassivHaus build and design principles.

The home was designed by architect Ross Bennett, with Passivhaus consultancy done by Maria Rei of eHaus, and Passivhaus Certification by Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings.

This single-story, detached family home has a treated floor area of 125 m² and was built using a lightweight timber frame system, and Gealan Eco Passivhaus certified PVC windows were used. SIGA membranes and tapes have been used for airtight layer.

The blower door test for this home achieved an excellent result of n50 = 0,4 air changes per hour (ACH).

Ventilation is provided by a Zehnder ComfoAir Q350 HRV unit with whole house balanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. A Panasonic split system is used for heating and cooling.

Links:

iPHa (Base de datos internacional de proyectos Passivhaus)

Year: 2025

Location: New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand

Architecture: eHaus – Ross Bennett

Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus Certification

Passivhaus Certification Class: Passivhaus Classic

Climate zone: Warm Temperate

Floor area: 125 m2

Thermal envelope area: 460 m2

Blower Door Result: 0,35 n50

Heating Demand: 19 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: 0 kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption (EPR): 46 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 44 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 0 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 16 kg/m2·a

Borda Nova, Andorra: Multifamily Passivhaus

ideadmin on 22 November 2024

La Borda Nova, Andorra: Multiresidential Passivhaus

Public development with 44 social housing units, designed by architects Pau Iglesias Rodríguez and Jacint Gil Rodríguez, with Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings as Passivhaus certifier

La Borda Nova, Andorra: Multifamily Passivhaus

Passivhaus Certification

Description

Public development with 44 social housing units, designed by architects Pau Iglesias Rodríguez and Jacint Gil Rodríguez, with Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings as Passivhaus certifier. The building is located in the city of Andorra La Vella, the capital city of Andorra.

The project has a treated floor area of 3350 m2 and includes 228 parking places, ground floor commercial premises and a roof garden.

Alongside the certification of the building, Praxis is carrying out Passivhaus component certification of the Butech (Porcelanosa) prefabricated construction system which is being installed on the façade of the building.

Fotos & renders: Locubsa; Pau Iglesias y Jacint Gil

Year: 2024

Location: Andorra La Vella, Andorra

Architecture: Pau Iglesias Rodríguez – Jacint Gil Rodríguez

Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus Certification

Passivhaus Certification Class: Passivhaus Classic

Climate zone: Warm Temperate

Floor area: 3350 m2

Thermal envelope area: 4796 m2

Blower Door Result: 0,49 n50

Heating Demand: 17 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: – kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption (EPR): 70 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 78 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 0 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 17 kg/m2·a

Casa SgCosta: Passivhaus Plus home, Sitges

ideadmin on 5 September 2023

liver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings has carried out the Passivhaus Plus certification of this single-family home in Sitges, Catalonia, designed by the architect and Passivhaus Designer Sergi Gargallo of SgARQ Passivhaus Architecture.

Casa Sg Costa

Passivhaus

Description

Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings has carried out the Passivhaus Plus certification of this single-family home in Sitges, Catalonia, designed by the architect and Passivhaus Designer Sergi Gargallo of SgARQ Passivhaus Architecture.

During the Passivhaus certification process, Praxis audited the calculations and design documents presented by the Passivhaus Designer, including the PHPP energy model, thermal bridge calculations, architectural and HVAC drawings and reports, the Blower Door test report, the ventilation commissioning report, and photographic documentation of the construction process, to ensure that the building was built as designed and as calculated in the PHPP model.

Photos: Joan Giribet

More information about the project in our Blog article: https://praxis-rb.com/casa-sg-costa-passivhaus-plus-en-clima-calido/

Links:

International Passivhaus Projects database

Spanish Passivhaus Platform (PEP) project database

Year: 2022

Location: Sitges, Cataluña

Services:
Passivhaus certification

Deep energy retrofit, Pamplona: EnerPHit Plus

ideadmin on 30 September 2024

Rehabilitación de Vivienda en Pamplona: EnerPHit Plus

Description This deep energy retrofit of a semi-detached home is one of the first in Spain to obtain the EnerPHit Plus certification. The project was certified by Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings, with Passivhaus design by Alberto Jimenez Tiberio of Arrebol Eficiencia Energética. The dwelling, over three floors, belongs to a row of terraced …

Deep energy retrofit, Pamplona: EnerPHit Plus

Passivhaus Certification

Description

This deep energy retrofit of a semi-detached home is one of the first in Spain to obtain the EnerPHit Plus certification. The project was certified by Oliver Style of Praxis Resilient Buildings, with Passivhaus design by Alberto Jimenez Tiberio of Arrebol Eficiencia Energética.

The dwelling, over three floors, belongs to a row of terraced houses located in Beloso, Pamplona. The exposed brick facades and the aesthetics of the neighbourhood meant the house had to be insulated internally, mainly using mineral wool insulation. To meet the Passivhaus requirements, certified Cortizo A84 window frames were installed together with low emissivity, argon filled triple glazing.

The airtightness of the envelope was massively improved during the renovation, with an excellent result in the final blower door test of n50 = 0.64 ach.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is with a Siber Excellent 4 unit, ensuring a high level of air quality. An air-to-water Mitsubishi heat pump was installed for heating and cooling (using underfloor heating and fan coils), and for domestic hot water production.

Solar photovoltaic panels were installed on the roof, bringing the house to EnerPHit Plus certification. The PV array generates, during a typical year, more energy than the house consumes.

Retrofitting an existing home to Passivhaus standard is a bold step in sustainability, reducing a building’s carbon footprint by reusing the existing structure and slashing operational carbon emissions. The project was certified to EnerPHit Plus by Praxis Resilient Buildings.

Links:

PEP (Plataforma Edificación Passivhaus)

iPHa (Base de datos internacional de proyectos Passivhaus)

Year: 2024

Location: Pamplona, Spain

Architecture: Juan Carlos Muguerza

Services provided by Praxis: Passivhaus Certification

Passivhaus Certification Class: EnerPHit Plus Certification

Climate zone: Warm Temperate

Floor area: 299 m2

Thermal envelope area: 730 m2

Blower Door Result: 0,6 n50

Heating Demand: 20 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: 1 kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption (EPR): 72 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 43 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 74 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 23 kg/m2·a

Ajuntament Llinars del Vallès, Catalonia, EnerPHit Plus retrofit

ideadmin on 10 November 2025

Ajuntament Llinars del Vallès, EnerPHit Plus

Nestled in the Vallès Oriental region, the newly retrofitted Llinars del Vallès Town Council office stands as a pioneering achievement—the first administrative building in Catalonia to earn Passivhaus-EnerPHit certification

Ajuntament Llinars del Vallès, Catalonia, EnerPHit Plus retrofit

Passivhaus Certification

Description

A Milestone in Municipal Sustainability: Llinars del Vallès Town Council Office

Nestled in the Vallès Oriental region, the newly retrofitted Llinars del Vallès Town Council office stands as a pioneering achievement—the first administrative building in Catalonia to earn Passivhaus-EnerPHit certification. This landmark project sets a new benchmark for deep energy retrofits in public infrastructure.

The renovation delivers an impressive 90% reduction in heating and cooling demand, made possible by a robust envelope upgrade:

12 cm mineral-based aerated concrete ETICS on the façades
10 cm XPS insulation on the roof
Smartwin timber-aluminium windows, Passivhaus-certified, featuring low-e, argon-filled triple glazing

Airtightness was rigorously addressed, achieving n50 = 0.88 ach, well within Passivhaus standards.

Ventilation is provided by a Zehnder CARMA 9035 unit, also Passivhaus-certified, boasting an 84% heat recovery rate. For heating, the building taps into a biomass district heating network, distributing warmth via wall-mounted fan-coils—which also deliver summer cooling through a 30 kW chiller.

To further reduce operational carbon emissions, a 19.3 kWP solar PV array supplies approximately 70% of the building’s annual energy needs. Real-time monitoring systems track both energy consumption and indoor air quality, ensuring performance transparency and occupant comfort.

Photos: GGV Arquitectura

Links:

PEP (Spanish Passivhaus Platform).

iPHa (International Passivhaus Projects Database)

Year: 2024

Location: Llinars del Vallès, Province Barcelona, Catalonia

Architecture: Guarner Garreta Viola Arquitectura SLP – Lourdes Garreta & Xavier Tragant

Services by Praxis: Passivhaus Certification

Passivhaus Certification Class: EnerPHit Plus

Climate zone: Warm-temperate

Floor area: 768

Thermal envelope area: 1.428 m2

Blower Door result: 0,9 n50

Heating Demand: 18 kWh/m2·a

Cooling Demand: 4 kWh/m2·a

Primary Energy Renewable consumption (EPR): 43 kWh/m2·a

Final Energy consumption: 48 kWh/m2·a

Renewable energy generation: 33 kWh/m2·a

CO2eq emissions: 12 kg/m2·a