Stunning FabLab Passive House at Europe’s Solar Decathlon
Chalkboard-Skinned Belgian Passivhaus is a Playground for Kids
JustK PassivHaus In Germany Is a Fab Prefab Wooden Tower
Awe-Inspiring Zero-Carbon Crossway Passivhaus Has a Vaulted Roof
One of France’s First Passivhaus is a Wonder of Green Design
Balance Project: A Modern Passivhaus For Santa Fe, New Mexico

Stunning FabLab Passive House Unveiled at Europe’s Solar Decathlon
This stunning FabLab House is a solar panel-covered passive building designed by a team from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. Built on three legs, it has a pile of awesome green features, including natural ventilation, smart energy and temperature-monitoring systems, a garden, and a rainwater collection system. We were lucky enough to see this gorgeous project in person when it competed at the 2010 Solar Decathlon in Europe.

Chalkboard-Skinned Belgian Passivhaus is a Playground for Neighborhood Kids
This unique Passivhaus in Brussels, Belgium has a chalkboard skin which gives it tremendous curbside appeal. BLAF Architecten expertly strikes a balance between creating a Passivhaus design that slightly exceeds requirements while still creating an environment that is inviting to children who are eager for play. This project’s extraordinary energy efficiency combined with a 3.7 kW solar array puts it high up on our list of most sustainable homes.

JustK PassivHaus In Germany Is a Fab Prefab Wooden Tower
Employing the principles of Passivhaus design, the JustK house by Deutschland-based AMUNT makes use of its local climate, superior insulation, and passive design to create an uber energy efficient prefabricated home. Other challenges that the designer met along the way included strict building codes and a small plot and budget. Even so, they persevered, and we are completely enamored with this beautiful project.

Awe-Inspiring Zero-Carbon Crossway Passivhaus Has a Vaulted Meadow Roof
Wanting a low-cost home with a small footprint, Richard Hawkes kept finding more ways to make this now-certified Passivhaus even more sustainable than originally planned. It has a beautiful living meadow on its roof, which insulates the home, several renewable energy sources provide heat and electricity, and all kinds of recycled goodies were mixed in with the building’s lime mortar. A great deal of this project’s thermal massing is derived from 26,000 clay bricks that were dug and formed just four miles from the vaulted home’s site.

One of France’s First Passivhaus is a Wonder of Green Design
Karawitz Architecture designed a home in Bessancourt, France that looks just like a traditional farmhouse but that actually conceals a whole pile of extraordinary green design details. The home has an extraordinary shuttered bamboo skin – one of the world’s most renewable materials – in addition to solar panels on the roof. This is the first house to receive the Passivhaus certification in the Ile de France region.

PHOTOS: Balance Project is a Modern Passivhaus For Santa Fe, New Mexico
Mojarrab Stanford Architects built this recently completed Passivhaus as a live/work in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The family home is the latest in a series of super progressive programs ongoing near one of the America’s oldest towns, and manages to retain something of a historical character without compromising on sustainability. Check out our exclusive photos of this awe-inspiring photos.