News
Prefab Passive House Partnership Hits a Milestone
A house is assembled in New York from panels manufactured in Maine, while Phoenix Haus in Detroit moves into high gear A crane lowers a prefabricated wall section into place in Altamont, New York. It’s the first in a line of panelized homes from a Pennsylvania-based architect and a Maine components manufacturer designed to meet the Passive House standard. It took four carpenters and six crane days to assemble Elizabeth Scott’s new house in Altamont, New York, and when they…
How Passive Houses Yield Aggressive Savings
Living in a home that’s wrapped in layers saves energy and money. And it makes your home more comfortable and your indoor air healthier to boot. How do you keep warm in your home in the winter? Do you crank the thermostat in the hall up past 78 so you can keep your bedroom at 68? Do you stuff foam tubes under doors and tape plastic over drafty windows? Do you take a space heater into a room that’s too…
Ecocor is Transforming the World of Prefab Homes
The average cost per square foot of a SOLSKEN model home is $237. For architect Richard Pedranti, AIA, CPHC, CPHB, HERS, PHIUS +, LEED, the fact that green building hasn’t yet become the standard in new construction points to a problem inherent in the building construction industry itself. A nearly 30-year veteran of the building industry, Pedranti led a team that worked on the $2.5 billion Tokyo International Forum building and has worked with respected residential architects in some of…
The First Prefabricated Passive House Designed by RPA Hits the Ecocor Production Line
A Legacy of Energy Efficient Living Helped Homeowner Elizabeth Scott Choose RPA|Ecocor’s Solsken Line of Model Passive Houses SEARSMONT, ME AND MILFORD, PA Ecocor, a construction firm that manufactures, delivers and assembles high performance buildings, has started production on the first Prefabricated Passive House designed by Richard Pedranti Architect (RPA), a full service architecture firm focusing on sustainable design. Earlier this year, Ecocor and RPA announced a partnership to design and build Prefabricated Passive Houses and released their Solsken Line…
Half of Americans Surveyed Struggle to Feel Warm and Comfortable in their Homes During the Winter Months Finds RPA|Ecocor
Drafts and Poor Insulation Create Both Discomfort and Familial Strife MILFORD, PA AND SEARSMONT, ME Richard Pedranti Architect (RPA), a full-service architecture firm focused on sustainable design, and Ecocor, a construction company that manufactures, delivers and assembles high performance Passive House buildings, surveyed Americans and found that regardless of how much they pay to heat their home, more than half of respondents struggle to feel comfortable in their homes during colder months. This is not just causing physical discomfort, but…
Ecocor Brings Swedish Building Tech to the USA to Produce Passivhaus Prefabs
When we wrote about high tech wood prefabs in Sweden, readers asked “why can’t we have this in America?” In fact, you now can. Not only that, you can have it built to Passivhaus, or Passive House standard of insulation and air quality. (Don’t know Passivhaus? See related links at bottom) That’s because Maine builder ECOCOR is importing the fancy RANDEK tools that slice and dice wood with such accuracy and assemble such perfect wall panels. You also get good…
Factories Gear Up for Passive House Building
Plants on both sides of North America specialize in superinsulated panelized building components. Factories designed to turn out prefabricated components for Passive House buildings are up and running on both sides of North America. In Pemberton, British Columbia, a company called BC Passive House operates the BC Passive House Factory, a 16,146-square-foot production facility that makes panelized parts for Passive House buildings as well as panels for timber-frame buildings. BC Passive House completed in 2014 Vancouver-based Hemsworth Architecture, which…
North America’s First Fully Prefabricated Passive Houses Could Revolutionize the Housing Market
A brilliant new partnership announced today could revolutionize the way Americans build their homes. Ecocor has teamed up with sustainability-minded design firm Richard Pedranti Architect (RPA) to design and build North America’s most energy-efficient prefab Passive Houses starting with eleven model home designs. The factory-built homes not only give Americans the opportunity to buy a super insulated, energy-efficient home at what we presume will be an affordable price, but will also allow them to modify and customize their eco-friendly home…
