Low-energy house

ID-10022916Low-energy house

Everybody, who realizes his housing dreams, needs to think about energy saving.  Good project is build of many factors which achieve low-energy house with low initial costs. Low-energy house combine savings of materials, costs and last but not least long-term savings of energy. Also their ecological footprint on the environment is smaller than in case of regular construction, mostly by using modern materials and in smaller amount.

 

How to save before building your house?

If you want to save not only during design process but also during  realization, you should care about well prepared family house project. First of all, right orientation by the cardinal directions is fundamental for a good project. You can build any passive house, but if it is incorrectly oriented in terms of the cardinal directions, it won´t meet your requirements of neither good “new house” feeling, nor energy saving. Family house with a living room oriented on the north or on the east is not worth having. The sun is the energy which we need to live. You rather place a kitchen on the north, it doesn´t need the direct sun and on the other hand your freely stored food will not get spoiled easily.

Ešte pre návštevou architekta Vám odporúčame vybrať vhodný pozemok, ktorý je orientovaný v smere sever juh-dvor a nie juh sever-dvor. Východ-západ je riešiteľný, ale nie je najvhodnejší. Najskôr nenájdete pozemok orientovaný priamo sever-juh, ale s miernym naklonením a to je ten správny.

Family house projec borrows from good experiences, because not every architect will draw you good house. Nowadays, almost every architect draws you a nice house, even a project from the catalogue can be nice, but surely it is not suitable for your land even if it´s cheaper .  And since we mentioned house project from the catalogue, it is not possible that every house from the catalogue is created for your land and with right orientation. You would be incredibly lucky if it did fit. Only one more thing about the projects from catalogue – it is a good business and mostly a scam. You probably won´t be able to build the house form the catalogue because it is not complete. Nobody will give you precise construction price of the catalogue project because what is mentioned on the last page (budget) most of the time is not even a half of the real construction price and you will ultimately highly overpay for mistakes and deficiencies which, in case you drawdown loan, will end as an advertisement for an unfinished house for sale.

What will the good architect offer you?

Good architect ultimately meets your needs and rightly designs a  house of your dreams. I personally, as the architect, want to oblige and by right compromise design family house project – in the way to be comfortable and my client would enjoy it. If you build the house which is not according to your ideas and the architect persuades you that this is right, it is not quite right. Why should you live in the house that your architect likes but you don´t? The architect must meet your needs and requirements and should communicate and draw with you. The architect, who just writes down some requirements and sends you the expensive concept which you don´t even like, is not the good architect. I am persuaded that good communication with the architect is important and the best way is to sit together for a few hours and draw your new dream house on the paper. During this first meeting, which we certainly do, you should acquaint with the architect and find out if you are on the same page and if he can draw you the house you want. In most cases, the clients tell me after 10 minutes that they are with the right architect – and that is the goal of our atelier – the good project together with the client’s satisfaction.


Phase before the house design

Choosing the site for the house

tvar a orientácia pozemku

Right choice of the site is very important, mainly because in term of the orientation by the cardinal directions, access, measurements and proportion (too narrow sites are limiting in terms of the distance compliance) relief and shaping (it mean if the land is plain or slope). Good choice of the building lot can noticeably influence building and operational costs. Placement of the particular rooms and their orientation are very important factors in terms of the heat costs and losses of the building. Main rule is to orientate all big windows to the south. Second rule is to place residential premises (living rooms, bedrooms and children’s rooms) to the south and the other parts (kitchen, bathroom, storeroom, hall) to the north part of the house, or the apartment. Big south-oriented windows need to be combined with the screening features which protect against excessive sunshine during summer.

Saving, low-energy or passive house?

Difference between these three types is in their operational energy intensity  at which the passive house is the most energy-saving. Difference between them is in the used materials and general concept. It is true that energy-saving houses has higher building costs, although their operational costs could by several times lower than in case of regular houses.


Phase before the constructing

Disposition requires the experienced architect

Everybody has own idea about housing and architect is an expert who helps you to design and realize it. Cooperation with the architect is necessary for making dreams come true, quality and rational design of the disposition and of the architecture.

Material solution

Market currently offers many materials and systems which are able to realize any construction. In cooperation with the architect you choose the solution which will fulfill your aesthetic requirements and also economic possibilities.

Technical solution of the house construction

In general, the constructions are distinguished according to the building technology to prefabricated and brick houses. Brick houses were more preferred in the past because it was classic and customary method to build. Nowadays, there are more effective and more progressive forms of the prefabricated systems. The advantage of the prefab houses is the speed of the building, rough construction built in 3 weeks, and also better thermal isolation and accumulative qualities of the used constructions.