KALEO ARCHITECTS

Monita Ma
Monita established Kaleo Architects in June 2000. Over the 20 years, she has been dedicated to providing quality architectural services to both private clients and government departments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Planning & Design, Melbourne
• Bachelor of Architecture (Hons), Melbourne
• Post-graduate Diploma Planning & Design (Building), Melbourne
• Business & Practice of Architecture 1, RAIA (High distinction)
• Registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria since 1999
• Certified Passive House Designer since 2018

PASSIVE HOUSE DESIGN
We can provide Passive House design to complement our architectural services to provide an integrated and holistic approach to your project. Passive House principles and criteria will be incorporated into the building design from the very beginning and used to inform decision-making throughout each stage of the project. Broadly, we would undertake the following:

At the Sketch Design stage:

• Explore design concepts and solutions based on Passive House principles
• Conduct initial basic Passive House analysis using Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to investigate the thermal performance of the proposed sketch design and to inform design development and resolution

At the Detailed Design stage:

• Continue to integrate Passive House principles to develop the design and optimise the design to meet Passive House criteria
• Consider components required for Passive House and develop a preliminary list for consideration and review
• Conduct detailed Passive House analysis using PHPP

At the Construction Documentation stage:

• Develop construction details to meet Passive House criteria and minimise thermal bridging
• Incorporate Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system
• Specify selected Passive House components
• Revise and finalise Passive House analysis using PHPP based on completed construction documentation.

Passive House Certification
Where Passive House Certification is required, we would provide PHPP files and required documentation to the appointed Certifier at each stage of the project.

ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
We can provide comprehensive architectural services to take your project from conception through to completion of construction. Alternatively, we can provide partial services to suit how you would like to procure your project and work collaboratively with other consultants and contractors appointed by you.

The services we provide include:

• Sketch Design
• Detailed Design
• Town Planning Documentation and Application
• Construction Documentation & Building Permit Application
• Contract Negotiation
• Contract Administration

WHAT IS PASSIVE HOUSE?
Passive House is a fabric-first approach to building design and construction to achieve healthy, comfortable and energy-efficient buildings. The fabric is the building envelope, i.e., the floors, walls and roof of a building. Ensuring that the floors, walls and roofs are designed and detailed correctly provides for a high-performance thermal envelope that will maintain indoor temperature at comfortable levels for most of the year.

In most conventional buildings, it is high energy systems and technology that keep a house thermally comfortable. In a Passive House, it is the building fabric that keeps the house comfortable.

Passive House is both a set of principles and a performance standard for energy-efficient buildings. It is not a specific construction method. The Passive House standard was developed by the Passive House Institute in Germany. The standard is first and foremost about occupant comfort. It seeks to produce high-quality indoor environments with the use of the least amount of energy.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF PASSIVE HOUSE
The Passive House standard is built around 5 key principles

Principle 1
Super Levels of Thermal Insulation
Thermal insulation is a key component to achieving Passive House. Just as an insulated vacuum flask keeps drinks at the desired temperature, super high levels of thermal insulation to the building fabric will keep indoor areas at a pleasant temperature and will substantially reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.

Principle 2
Thermal-Bridge-Free Construction
Building envelopes not only consist of walls, roofs and ceilings but also corners, edges, connections and penetrations. Much energy can pass through these areas where the thermal envelope is broken or compromised. This is known as thermal bridging. It can cause substantial heat loss leading to cold patches that could cause condensation and mould growth. Hence, it is very important that the super levels of thermal insulation layer is applied continuously around the entire building envelope without being thermally bridged.

Principle 3
Airtight Construction
Airtightness of the building envelope is required to prevent heat loss through air leakages through the building and allow for controlled ventilation strategies to reduce draughts and noise. It also prevents moist air from condensing on the building fabric which could affect the durability of the building structure.

Principle 4
High-Performance Windows and Doors
High-quality windows and doors with double or even triple glazing with insulated frames and insulated spacers between glazing are used to maintain the thermal performance of the glass.

Principle 5
Controlled Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery
The Passive House principles incorporate an extremely energy-efficient mechanical ventilation with a heat recovery system into the overall design of the building. This system brings in fresh air from the outside and exhausts out the stale air from the inside. The heat recovery function, as the name suggests, recovers heat from the stale air before it is exhausted and uses this heat to warm the incoming fresh air. Hence, a high level of indoor air quality is maintained throughout the building with minimum use of energy.

The ventilation system used for a Passive House must have a heat recovery efficiency of at least 75% while the electricity consumption should not exceed 0.45 Wh/m³ of the transport air volume. Additionally, the acoustic load of the system should not exceed 25dB.

PASSIVE HOUSE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
The Passive House standard has clear set performance criteria and a great quality assurance process via certification to ensure that these criteria are met. The building design must meet the following criteria:

Space heating demand
Not to exceed 15 kWh annually OR 10W (peak demand) per square metre of usable living space

Space cooling demand
Not to exceed 15 kWh annually OR 10W (peak demand) per square metre of usable living space plus a climate-dependent allowance for dehumidification

Primary energy demand
Not to exceed 120 kWh annually for all domestic applications (heating, cooling, hot water, and domestic electricity) per square metre of usable living space

Airtightness
Maximum of 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals pressure (as verified with an onsite pressure test in both pressurised and depressurised states)

Thermal Comfort
Must be met for all living areas year-round with not more than 10% of the hours in any given year over 25℃

WHY PASSIVE HOUSE
There are many reasons and benefits to building a Passive House. These include:

Thermal Comfort
A Passive House maintains a stable, even and comfortable temperature throughout the entire building all year round, free from draughts, free from cold spots and free from excessive overheating.

Healthy & Quiet
Passive House buildings provide a healthy and quiet indoor environment. As we now spend such a significant period of our time indoors, the buildings we live in clearly have an impact on our health and wellbeing. The ventilation systems installed in Passive House buildings provide a constant supply of fresh air, ensuring pollutants and odours are removed from the building whilst maintaining a comfortable indoor air temperature. The high-performance insulation and windows installed in Passive House buildings also make such buildings extremely quiet. If your building is located in a busy urban area, you will be protected from noise and pollution so that you can enjoy peacefully being in your workplace or living in your home.

Energy Efficiency
Passive House buildings are designed and constructed to be highly energy efficient. The vigorous planning procedures and calculations performed with the use of the Passive House Planning Package software ensure that there is no performance gap between the expected and actual building performance. For the owner and occupants, this means a significant reduction in energy bills because of a considerable reduction in energy consumption for heating and cooling. As an indication, here is a diagram showing the energy usage for heating in a Passive House compares compared to a low-energy house. The Passive House Institute has found savings to be over 75% annually. If compared to a conventional house that just meets regulation requirements for energy efficiency, the savings could be even as high as 90%.

Quality Build
A Passive House is built to last. The fabric-first approach with sound building physics results in superior construction, detailing and workmanship.

Performance Assured
The design, construction and certification process required for a Passive House ensures that the finished building performs as expected.

Sustainable
An ultra-low energy use or near net-zero energy building leads to reductions in carbon emissions and minimises the use of limited resources such as gas and oil.

Value on Investment
Passive House buildings represent a long-lasting, valuable investment for owners, occupiers, developers and investors. The Passive House approach focuses on allocating funds into a high-performance building fabric that has a long life cycle instead of add-on technologies that have a much shorter life cycle.

Reliable
Whilst relatively new in Australia, Passive House was developed in the 1990s by Dr Wolfgang Feist who established the Passive House Institute in Germany. Since then Passive House has gained popularity and has proven to be a reliable approach in an ever-increasing range of climates. Tens of thousands of Passive House buildings have been built worldwide and have performed outstandingly in use. Of these, several hundred have been empirically monitored and rigorously tested by the Passive House Institute. The results have been consistently positive.

Resilient to Change
A Passive House will be more resilient to the impact of climate change and will stay comfortable and habitable for much longer than conventional buildings in the cast of power outrage.

Uncomplicated
No user manuals or complicated technology is needed to operate a Passive House. Built into the design of a Passive House is user-friendliness.

Access to finance
Passive House Certified Buildings qualify for reduced interest rates on borrowing.

TAILORED DESIGN SOLUTION
We recognize that each project is unique and has its specific requirements, conditions and challenges. Therefore, we attend to each project specifically and individually to create tailored design solutions that respond to site conditions and address your specific requirements.

CLIENT FOCUS
We value and respect our clients and their aspirations. Our goals are to achieve your
aspirations. We are committed to listening and working closely with you to come to an
understanding of your aspirations and priorities so that we can arrive at a design proposal that best meets your expectations and budgetary constraints.

ACCREDITED & QUALIFIED
Monita is a practising Architect registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria. She has also obtained accreditation from the Passive House Institute in Germany as a Certified Passive House Designer.

THERMAL COMFORT & ENERGY EFFICIENCY
We are passionate about not only creating inspirational designs but buildings that are
highly energy efficient with outstanding levels of thermal comfort and indoor air quality for the health and wellbeing of our clients.

BUILDING MODELLING
We use the latest Building Information Modelling software so that from the beginning of sketch design through to detailed design, you can view and understand the design in 3D.

QUALITY DOCUMENTATION
Inadequate documentation can cause many issues during construction which could become costly to rectify. Therefore, we put much effort and attention into providing a thorough and accurate set of drawings and specifications so that construction can proceed efficiently.