First Passive House in Fayetteville Sets New Energy Efficiency Standard for Arkansas
Final touches are being completed on Magnolia House, a charming two-story residence with white clapboard siding, featuring three bedrooms. Situated off Walnut Avenue in downtown Fayetteville, this 1,780-square-foot home was meticulously designed by architectural designer Michael Cockram, who will soon be listing it for sale.
According to KUAF, Cockram’s firm, Bowerbird Design LLC, has long specialized in energy-efficient residential and commercial construction projects. He’s now focused on passive house construction.
“I had friends and colleagues who started getting interested in passive house certification, so I started looking at that,” he said. “I’m also a freelance architectural writer and have written several articles on passive houses. I’ve had this interest for many years, but I haven’t had the opportunity until recently to use the passive house techniques.”
Cameron Caja, a certified passive house consultant with Austin-based engineering firm Positive Energy, collaborated with Cockram on Magnolia House. Caja said today’s passive house strict performance-based standards originated 25 years ago in Germany.
“By a gentleman named Wolfgang Feist, who was a doctor,” Caja said. “He was very interested in energy efficiency and increasing comfort standards for people in their homes. And in Europe, energy prices have remained high, so there was always an economic incentive for people to invest a little more money in the envelope, in the shell of their home, and then reap savings over the entire life of that home by having reduced energy costs.”