The Saltbox House: The Anatomy of a Passive House in the Eastern Townships

With our new division Rocket Science, we want to make building science more accessible and easier to understand. The Saltbox House fits perfectly into that goal: a project documented from start to finish — from design through to delivery — to show what it actually means to build a passive house in the Québec climate.

The Saltbox House was born out of a collaboration with the architects at Atelier l'Abri. It is LEED Platinum and PHIUS certified, the leading passive house certification in North America, making it the third certified passive house in Québec at the time.

So what does that actually mean? A building envelope (walls, roof, windows) that is extremely well insulated and airtight, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and a significant reduction in heating and cooling needs.

This isn't an abstract number on a certificate. It's something you feel on a daily basis: steady and comfortable indoor temperature year-round, excellent air quality, and energy bills that reflect a home built to a different standard.

As part of the project, Atelier l'Abri, Construction Rocket, and content content produced a five-episode web series presented by Écohabitation. It's an inside look at every step of building a passive house in the Québec climate, from design decisions to the construction details that make it work.

We invite you to follow the project from the first sketch to the finished result:

• Trailer

• Episode 1 — Design

• Episode 2 — Structure

• Episode 3 — The Envelope

• Episode 4 — Cladding

  
  

More details on the project are available on Écohabitation and on Atelier l'Abri's website.

Photo credit: Raphaël Thibodeau