With privileged views of Valle Sant Daniel and Montseny, the Casa-P designed by architects Daniel Tigges (Tigges Architekt) and Micheel Wassouf (Energiehaus) in Montjuïc, Girona, combines the notions of contemporary design with criteria of efficiency and low energy consumption typical of the German Passivhaus standard.

The P-House of the architects Daniel Tigges and Micheel Wassouf is structured in three floors: a basement and a concrete ground floor that bring together the common spaces and that support a wooden structure that makes up the upper floor, where the bedrooms and their respective private outdoor spaces.

Likewise, the different spaces of the building are configured as an open space, functionally defined by a game of heights that gives each area its own identity.

This visual dialogue found in House P, projected by Daniel Tigges and Micheel Wassouf, makes it possible to connect the interior of the building with its exteriors by creating intermediate annex spaces such as the porch, balconies, or terraces.

The materials used on each level are reflected in its façade through the use of multiple brown pigments that refer to concrete and wood, which will also facilitate the maintenance of the good condition of the house over time. On the other hand, the interior is mostly covered with wood with a white glaze to give the house a calm and homely character.

It is important to note that the P-House contains in its design the elementary principles of passive houses. Thus, the main windows are oriented towards the south façade, being able to capture the maximum solar radiation in winter, providing warmth to its interiors and moving away from traditional air conditioning standards.

It also highlights the provision of solar protection and the surrounding insulation of the structure, applying a new construction method that is more sustainable from an ecological and economic point of view.
 

Description of project by Daniel Tigges and Micheel Wassouf

P-House is located in the district of Montjuïc, in the city of Girona. It consists of a single building with four winds and its location in the upper part of the plot allows its inhabitants to enjoy privileged views over the Sant Daniel Valley and the Montseny.

P-House is a building that combines contemporary design with the criteria of a very low-energy consumption building (NZEB), and its high-energy efficiency has been certified by the German Passivhaus standard. In this sense, the house meets all the expectations of the owners who explain that “living in this house is better than living in a 5-star hotel”.

Description

The building is organized on three floors. The basement and ground floor are made of a concrete structure and are the base on which the top floor of the building is built, all of which is made of wood. This same materialization is externalized and gives body to the façades, in a play that seeks to invert the colours of both materials. On the one hand, through the use of brown pigments in the concrete and, on the other, through a treatment of the wood that tries to simulate the ageing of the material. This also makes it possible to reduce maintenance costs.

Layout

Regarding the organization of the house, the ground floor houses the communal areas –an open space without divisions whose intention is to capture as much natural light as possible– while promoting visual dialogue between all the spaces that make up this floor. The two levels of this floor, besides differentiating the different spaces of this environment, allow the heights to be worked in a dynamic, giving each space its singularity. This play of heights, which is also present in the cascading staircase that links the two floors of the building, extends outwards to the porch, where its double height accentuates the verticality of this space, creating a transition space between inside and outside.

The interior-exterior relationship was an essential theme and which it was sought to enhance through the creation of exterior spaces attached to each interior space, such as the porch, the balconies or the various terraces that circumscribe the entire building.

The bedrooms, on the other hand, are organized on the upper floor of the building and represent the most intimate area of the house. Their interiors are mostly clad in wood with a white glaze, the same tone as the other materials, in an attempt to generate a lightness that suits the soothing character of these spaces. Here too, all the rooms have their own corresponding outdoor space.

Passive strategies

From the very first sketches, elementary concerns in passive house construction, such as solar orientation or the high compactness of the building, have been considered. The main openings face south and the north façade contains hardly any windows. In this way, maximum solar radiation can be captured in winter to passively heat the interior. At the same time, all openings are fitted with solar shading, which is intelligently controlled by a home automation system.

Another important issue is the insulation of the entire envelope, with thicknesses of between 21 cm and 30 cm, and an extraordinary airtightness has been achieved, as required by the Passivhaus standard. The result of the Blower Door test was a factor of 0.57, out of the permitted 0.65.

The building does not have a traditional climate system and is air-conditioned solely through Zehnder ComfoAir 550 ERV Luxe enthalpy cross-counterflow heat exchanger, which, in addition to air-conditioning the house, provides clean and healthy air inside the building. According to the latest calculations, the building has an annual heating demand of 9 kWh/m² and a cooling demand of 1 kWh/m².

To illustrate the savings and comfort of passive construction, the architects explain the following anecdote:

“During a site visit early in the morning on a winter day, the ground outside was covered with frost, it was freezing; when we went inside the house the temperature was perfect, and the heat pump had not yet been installed”.

The construction of the P-House aims to be an alternative to traditional construction methods, which are much more harmful to the environment and much more costly for its users. P-House is presented as an example of a building where sustainability and energy efficiency represent some of its main premises.

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Architects
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Daniel Tigges (Tigges Architekt) and Micheel Wassouf (Energiehaus).
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Collaborators
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Engineers.- Oliver Style y Vicenç Fulcarà, Progetic.
Structure.- OTG 3.
Partnership.- Maria Molins Sala.
Certification.- Ebök GmbH, Tübingen.
Ventilation.- Zehnder.
Domotics.- Loxone.
Sun protection.- Griesser.
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Client
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Private.
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Area
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Gross floor area.- 472 sqm.
Energy reference area SRE.- 175 sqm.
Form factor (enveloping surface /SRE).- 3,56.
Window area.- 15 %.
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Data set
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Heating energy demand.- 9 kWh/m²a.
Refrigeration demand.- 1 kWh/m²a.
Heating load.- 18 W/m²a.
Refrigeration load.- 4W/m²a.
Non-renewable primary energy.- 77 kWh/m²a.
Renewable primary energy.- 36 kWh/m²a.
Photovoltaics.- 3,18 kWp, 3,00 kWn.
Airtightness n50.- 0,57/h.
Average U-value covered.- 0,14 W/m²K.
Average U-value of first floor enclosures.- 0,14 W/m²K.
Average U-value of ground floor enclosures.- 0,22 W/m²K.
Average U-value elements against terrain.- 0,22 W/m²K.
Average U-value windows.- 1,15 W/m²K.
Glazing 4/15A/4/15A/3+3.- 0,80 W/m²K.
Heat pump.- Rotex HPSU Compact 6 kW.
Heat pump performance.- 3,64 (cop) / 3,99 (EER).
Solar water storage.- 500 l.
Ventilation+ recovery.- Zehnder Comfoair 550 ERV Luxe.
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Budget
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1.451 €/m².
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Dates
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2017.
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Manufacturers
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Structure and masonry.- Duplextil S.L.
Concrete structure.- Constructora Illes Medes S.A.
Wooden structure.- Arcor S.L.
Instalations.- Progetic Projectes Sostenibles S.L.
Exterior carpentry.- Uniform instalada por Ortiz Kitchen.
Interior carpentry.- Blockporta GVI S.L.
Integrated furniture.- Blockporta GVI S.L.
Blown cellulose.- Ecoespai.
Exterior wood treatment.- Keim Ecopaint Ibérica S.L.
Interior wood treatment.- Cedria.
Flashing.- SAS, Prefabricados de hormigón S.A.
Curtains.- TBB, protección solar y decoración.
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Location
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Montjuïc, Girona - Spain.
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Photography
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Daniel Tigges holds a degree in Architecture (FHNW, Switzerland), a Master's degree in Architecture, Energy and Environment (UPC, Barcelona), is lecturer in Universities in Spain and the USA and is Minergie certifier in Spain.

The office Tigges Architekt has vast experience in the local market in projecting, executing, consulting, accompanying and training people in the field of sustainable construction. Daniel Tigges has been awarded for his architecture in several competitions and especially for the extension of the Koch-Beuchat house in Switzerland, for which he has received four distinctions, among others the German Design Award.


The latest outstanding works of the firm are the Waldorf School El Til·ler in Bellaterra, selected for the FAD award, the Casa-P, a single-family house in Girona, certified with the Passivhaus standard and the work Can Titella, a sustainable building in the neighborhood of Gracia, Barcelona, selected for the Mostra d'Arquitectura of the College of Architects of Catalonia.

The latter is a model project for buildings with very low energy consumption in the Mediterranean climate zone, certified with Minergie, the Swiss standard for low consumption architecture.
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Micheel Wassouf. Born in Damascus (Syria). He completed his architectural studies in 1995 at the University of Karlsruhe/Germany. He has worked as an architect in several European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, and since 2008 he is director of Energiehaus Arquitectos, based in Barcelona.

He has a long professional experience, both in design and in the execution of architectural projects. Since 2003, his professional career has focused on the development of high-energy efficiency projects, based on the Passivhaus standard.

Since 2014, he has been accredited as an official Passivhaus certifier by the Passivhaus Institut. He is a founding member of the official Spanish association PEP, Plataforma de Edificación Passivhaus and ILAPH, the Latin American Passivhaus Institute.

Micheel Wassouf is author of the book “De la Casa Pasiva al estándar Passivhaus. La arquitectura pasiva en climas cálidos” (Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2014), where he proposes a passive architecture adapted to the sociocultural realities of the Mediterranean.

Energiehaus Architects is a pioneer in the design and certification of very low-energy consumption buildings, with extensive experience in the design of Passivhaus buildings. Energiehaus is a leader in the application of the Passivhaus standard in hot climates and the first Spanish entity approved to certify buildings under this standard through its director, Micheel Wassouf.

The Passivhaus standard is internationally recognized as the most demanding standard in terms of energy efficiency, health, and thermal comfort for users.

Buildings designed by Energiehaus have been published in international forums, such as the International Passivhaus Conference.
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Published on: March 24, 2021
Cite: "A window to the south. Casa P by Daniel Tigges and Micheel Wassouf" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-window-south-casa-p-daniel-tigges-and-micheel-wassouf> ISSN 1139-6415
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