Occupant Experience of Everyday Life in Some of the First Passive Houses in Denmark

Abstract

In future years the building industry will face great challenges in fulfilling stricter energy demands. One way to meet requirements is to build passive houses. In Germany passive houses have been constructed for many years but in Denmark the building industry has just begun. The pilot project, named Comfort Houses, aims to show the industry that it is possible to construct traditional Danish houses as passive houses and promote them as comfortable houses. For this to be a success in the future, it is necessary to fulfil the occupants’ needs and wishes. This study aims to communicate how the occupants of the Comfort Houses experience living in a passive house and if their lives and everyday practices have changed after moving in. This is done through interviews with the occupants about their everyday life both in their previous home and in the Comfort House. The results show that the occupants’ everyday lives have changed – some as a result of the architectural and structural solutions, others as a result of the technology integrated in the houses.

Keywords:

• Passive houses
• Everyday life
• Interviews
• Architecture
• Indoor environment
• Comfort

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Saint-Gobain Isover Scandinavia for initiating and organizing the pilot project of the Comfort Houses. And a great thanks to the occupants in the Comfort Houses that wanted to participate in the interviews.