KKA Winner in Ã…hus

In an open competition for building seven passive houses in Ã…hus, Sweden, KKA was chosen for three of the sites. KKA did the competition in collaboration with Emrahus and Kreativa hus. The houses will be built for the housing fair “Bo dagar 2009”. 
THE PASSIVE HOUSE CONCEPT
Passive houses are extremely well-insulated buildings that are largely heated by the energy already present in the building - people and our household equipment generate a lot of energy. 

^ VILLA SADELTAK
AREA: 160m²
BEDROOMS: 4

We are just moving into our new house. Carrying a carpet I stop outside the entrance and look around. In the area theres a mix of old and new buildings. We wanted our house to fit in among the other, but still have a modern thouch. Now when the house is built it looks as if it where a younger relative to its neighbors. The main characteristics are the same; the volume of the house with its ridged roof, the plaster facade and the pan tile, but if one looks closer there are many differences as well. White plain plaster in combination with black plain pan tiles gives the house a minimalistic monolithic volume. The windows are positioned to support a modern floorplan.

I enter the house and walk up the stairs. The kitchen and living room form one large room on one side of the house. The stairs divide the two functions of the room. Me and my wife walk upwards towards the bedrooms, the carpet is destined for our master bedroom.

^ VILLA VINKEL
AREA: 150 m²
BEDROOMS: 4

I sit in our living room looking out. It almost feels as if I’m outside.

The room forms a large open space together with the kitchen. Its formed as an L that protects our garden and offers a view over the endless fields outside. In the middle of the space theres a piece of furniture containing the kitchen, wardrobes, storage and the dining table. One can walk around the piece. On the backside of it theres the bedrooms with storage and bathrooms close at hand.

As soon as my wife are finished talking on the phone we´ll go into town to buy some toys for our kitten, she really needs some entertainment besides playing with our furnishment.

^ VILLA ATRIUM
AREA: 160 m²
BEDROOMS: 2

The autumn is closing in, but its still warm in the sun. Its Sunday morning and I’m reading the newspaper in the kitchen. From here I can see almost the whole house. The kitchen and the living room form one big open room. From there two corridors running along the atrium connects it with the bedrooms. If I look into the atrium I can see the doors to the bedrooms on the other side, there our kids are still fast asleep, they stayed up a bit too long yesterday watching movies in our home cinema. On the middle of the atrium stands an apple tree. The apples are ripe and looks like red Christmas balls on the tree. I walk out and start picking them, today the whole family will have apple pie for breakfast!