How to Design Buildings for Wildfire Resilience

NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Passive House Accelerator has announced that it will hold a Reimagine Buildings Conference centered on fire resilience March 14, 2025. Entitled Designing for Fire Resilience, the virtual conference will speak directly to architects, engineers, and builders who want to learn about actionable advice for making more resilient buildings and products that have been vetted by others in their industry.

Presenters at the conference will discuss the practicalities of assembly and systems integration, offering strategies for creating efficient, cost-effective fire-resistant buildings. They will also provide actual examples of fire-hardening techniques that owners, builders, designers, and architects can easily incorporate into their standard building practices.

Presenters will include:

• Mark Attard – Business Development Director, Joubert Homes
• Bronwyn Barry – Principal, Passive House BB
• David Claus – Director of Facilities Management and Capital Planning, UNBC
• Michael Ingui – President, Ingui Architecture; Founder, Passive House Accelerator; Founder, Source 2050
• Graham Irwin – Principal, Essential Habitat Architecture
• Mary James – Director of Publications, Passive House Accelerator
• Christian Kienapfel – Principal, PARAVANT Architects
• Andrew Michler – Principal, Hyperlocal Workshop
• Sarah Nuamah – Systems Designer and Services Agent, Small Planet Supply
• Christina Restaino – Natural Resources Specialist, University of Nevada Reno
• John Semmelhack – Owner/HVAC Designer, Comfort Squad
• Tonje Wold-Switzer – Executive Director, Long Term Recovery Group of Santa Cruz County

Cumulatively, the Accelerator's Reimagine Building conferences have attracted thousands of online attendees since their first event in March 2024. These conferences are held approximately every 10 weeks and complement the free resources provided by the Accelerator, including a library with more than 1,000 articles and hundreds of videos hosted on the Accelerator's website, as well as weekly live events (Passive House Accelerator LIVE!) and a weekly podcast (the Passive House Podcast). These resources are published to support the Accelerator's mission to advance the adoption of the Passive House standard and other high-performance building methodologies.

The decision of "Designing for Fire Resilience" as the theme of the March 2025 Conference is a response to the numerous natural disasters that have occurred recently, the most striking of which was the January fires in Los Angeles, which resulted in at least 29 deaths, the destruction of more than 16,000 structures, hundreds of billions in damages and economic loss, and an unquantifiable amount of human suffering.

Passive House Accelerator Director Zack Semke said, "It is very clear that the climate of the 21^st century will be very different from the one we enjoyed in the past. Today's climate is more volatile, more extreme, and less predictable than it was just a few decades ago. Our buildings need to adapt to reflect that reality, and we need buildings that are designed to be resilient given the new reality. This will require a shift in what the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry considers business as usual. Professionals within this industry will need to rethink how we design buildings, how we construct buildings, and how our materials choices affect the long-term viability of our projects."

Passive House Accelerator Founder Michael Ingui said, "There is already a sizeable group of early adopters who have already begun to implement more resilient practices. They have already resolved challenges that they encountered during design. They have already put new techniques to the test on the job site. These are not just ideas that work on paper. They have been field tested and fine-tuned in Europe and throughout North America."

For more information and to register, visit https://events.ringcentral.com/events/reimagine-buildings-fire-resilience/registration.

The Accelerator offers student and scholarship rate tickets to make sure that everyone, regardless of financial circumstances, can attend Reimagine Buildings conferences. Additionally, the Accelerator is offering complementary tickets to those displaced by wildfire. To apply for either, please email [email protected].

About Passive House Design

Central to the techniques that will be described throughout the Conference are the Passive House design principles, which include creating buildings that are 1) airtight; 2) contain no thermal bridges; and are equipped with 3) a continuous layer of insulation, 4) high-performance windows and doors, and 5) mechanical ventilation systems.

While the first four design principles are focused on creating a robust building envelope to manage moisture and keep things like smoke, allergens, dust, and even pests from penetrating the enclosure, the fifth principle, mechanical ventilation systems, ensures that all the outdoor air that is let in goes through a heat recovery and filtration system. Through the use of HRVs (heat recovery ventilators) and ERVs (energy recovery ventilators), Passive House buildings provide a continuous stream of fresh, conditioned air to living spaces while simultaneously extracting stale air, odors, and indoor pollutants.

About Passive House Accelerator

This Reimagine Buildings Conference is a production of Passive House Accelerator. Passive House Accelerator LLC was formed in 2020 as a platform for media and education, accelerating progress toward zero carbon buildings. Proceeds from this event will cover event expenses and will be reinvested into producing the Accelerator's year-round free programming focused on building decarbonization. Half of all the ticket proceeds for this conference will be donated to the California Community Foundation Wildfire Relief and Recovery Fund.

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SOURCE Passive House Accelerator