2022 ArchiTeam - Passive House Scholarship Winner

Now in its third year running, the Passive House Scholarship will be awarded to the ArchiTeam member who designs the 2022 ArchiTeam Passive House Scholarship trophy. The trophy can be anything you think it should be - images or video of drawings, models, 3D printed objects, photos, haiku or another creative medium.

This year’s winner is Amy Bracks of IOA Studio – with her submission “Passive House Surprise”.

This year’s winning Passive House scholarship trophy, aptly named “Passive Surprise” first appears as a simple can, however, upon opening the can, the recipient is met with an explosion of the five passive house principles, bringing surprise and joy to the idea of passive house values and sustainability.

When asked to describe her entry Amy explains “The Passive House Scholarship Award Trophy, Passive Surprise, first appears as a simple can. Upon opening the trophy, the recipient is met with an explosion of the five passive house principles. The concept aims to bring joy and excitement to the idea of passive housing and sustainability. The recipient will be surprised once they receive and open the air-tight can to find insulation, triple glazing, no thermal bridges, and a heat recovery ventilation system all burst free. The opening of the can represents the ability of a passive house to appear simple and beautiful from an external view while working hard beneath the surface to achieve incredible results. A recycled coil at the bottom of the can is tightly wound containing all of the passive house principles, ready to spring joy to the lucky winner.”

The jury enjoyed the proposal's‘ jack-in-the-box’ playfulness which cleverly embodies the idea that while a passive house may appear simple from the exterior, beneath the surface are the passive house principles providing long-term and sustainable benefits.

Amy learnt about Passivhaus through builders she collaborates with and sees the standard as a vehicle to push for better-built outcomes. “A couple of builders that we work with have become passive house certified and are pushing for Passivhaus principles within their projects & construction, which is great to see.”

“I want to be able to push for better-built outcomes for the environment and our clients. I would like to be able to bring playfulness and joy to passive house design” said Amy.

When asked why she applied for the Scholarship Amy explains “I feel like it’s our duty as designers, architects and people within the built environment to take responsibility for the impact our work has on the world. We should be leaders in future outcomes that work with our surroundings rather than against them and I am so excited by the possibility of being able to do that with passive house.”

Congratulations Amy Bracks of IOA Studio for winning this year’s Passive House Scholarship. Amy will undertake the course in early 2023.