2019 Passivhaus Student Competition Winners

Striving to get sustainability taught as standard rather than a specialism, The Passivhaus Student competition, sponsored by Tarmac, is now in its 4^th year. As well as meet Passivhaus Standard, students are tasked with assessing material choices and how their designs impact on the wider context. After an accumulation of Passivhaus tutors, informative seminars, software tutorials, inspiring study tours, and exhibitions, a new cohort of winning designs is on display.

And the 2019 winners are….


Mealan: Versatile food hub Winner: Latifa Mohammed, Oxford Brookes The Hub is a street food market and a learning, cultural hub with staff and students’ accommodation designed to meet Passivhaus Standard. Vertical timber shading screens combine with living walls to generate a patterned facade. Judges were impressed with how the building relates to the site, a clear Passivhaus strategy and design development addressing fenestration and shading. Pop-up I DesignPH poster


House-S Project Winner: Sergi, Sahil & Santiago, University of Sheffield A detached 2 storey home aims to achieve high energy efficiency levels with low impact materials and high insulation levels. The modest design exercised sound Passivhaus strategy with clear design iterations and good use of materials. Pop-up I DesignPH Poster


Regenerare Winner: Thomas Newton, University of Nottingham An aquaponic urban farm forms the heart of this regeneration scheme. There is a thorough explanation of the Passivhaus approach for the affordable housing & overheating considerations. Pop-up I DesignPH poster


The Guided Labyrinth Commended: Syed Asmar Ul Hassan & Xin Huang, University of Nottingham This urban rejuvenation project produced a complex residential building design, but judges enjoyed good clear analysis & design iterations tackling overheating. Pop-up I DesignPH poster

Piazza Fluente Commended: Katie de Silva, Oxford Brookes Drawing inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci and strengthening Milan’s cultural identity as a driving force of the New Renaissance, this active museum celebrates the spectacle of a working waterwheel that hopes to improve the efficiency of the 304 solar panels above. A hugely complex design, but judges found the creative concept interesting. Pop-up I DesignPH poster

Tarmac is committed to supporting the drive for more sustainable construction. We share the importance of educating future architects and engineers on the impact they can have by creating comfortable, high performing sustainable developments and communities via the built environment.

Martyn Kenny, Sustainability Director, Tarmac

A huge congratulations to all the projects that made the shortlists. Winners will be awarded at the official prize giving ceremony at the 2019 UK Passivhaus Conference on the 29th October in Manchester.

Join us on the 10^th of October at UK Construction Week, where we will exhibit the winning schemes in the hope of inspiring the next cohort of students for the launch of the next Passivhaus Student Competition.

Once again the judges were impressed with the variety and creativity found in the students work. Tarmac’s involvement has been key in facilitating the resources the competition provided and enabling students to taste some of the real-world skills required in practice.

Jon Bootland, CEO, Passivhaus Trust