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V O L . X X I V N O. V I I I A P R I L 1 6 , 2 0 1 8 28 C ornerspring Montessori School in Belfast could pass for any modern school; so could the Friends School of Portland in Cumberland. In Portland, the ultra-modern lower school addition at Waynfl ete comple- ments a converted barn, built in 10. Across the city, 5-apartment Bayside Anchor stands out mostly because it's bright green in a sea of gray and brick. In Brewer, the Village Centre apart- ment complex doesn't look much diff er- ent from other new apartment buildings. But the recent developments, all built to Passive House standards, are very diff erent on the inside from their neighbors. "A Passive House can look like any house," says Chris Corson, founder and technical director of Ecocor, which builds Passive House single-family homes. e diff erence is in how it's built. "It has thicker walls, thicker win- dows, more insulation," he says, and adheres to the other principles that make a building so energy effi cient that it can be heated or cooled largely by environmental means. A high-performance building 'envelope' e concept of the "passive house" goes back centuries — people fi guring out how to be comfortable in their home no matter what it's like outside. e modern concept evolved out of decades of research into "super-insu- lated" buildings and energy effi ciency. e Passivhaus Institute was founded in the late 10s in Germany by physicist Wolfgang Feist and scientist Bo Adamson. Certifi ed Passive House construc- tion has fi ve requirements: thick insulation, airtight construction, thick and well-placed windows, prevention of moisture migration and a steady supply of fresh air. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY AUBURN PORTLAND PORTSMOUTH BOSTON FLEXIBLE ENVIRONMENTS INSPIRE CREATIVITY ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING PLANNING SUSTAINABLE DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN www.harriman.com Rand Ardell, director of marketing and communications at Waynfl ete and Millard Nadeau, a Wright-Ryan Construction superintendent, at Waynfl ete, where Passive House construction is being used on the lower school addition. F O C U S High performance housing Passive House construction is surging in Maine