Norra Hem

Norra Hem is a passive house project with low energy consumption (Low E building) under construction located on the Versant Nord of Tremblant in Quebec.

Finding the right balance between design and energy performance

Constrained by the specificities of the land, below a mountain Norra Hem has an inverted floor plan: bedrooms on the ground floor, living space on the 1st floor, and is expressed by a simple rectangular volumetry 30 x 55. Large openings are strategically placed to ensure maximum daylight and solar gains despite the complexity of the terrain.

Wall assemblies

To achieve 30 kWh/m2/year and less as the prescribed objective, the exterior walls are composed of a double studs 2x4 with a 17-inch cavity of blown cellulose (61.2 before 10 to 15% subsidence). Rigid Sonoclimat Eco4 wood fiber panels are installed on the outside (R4 - perms 26). The roof with cathedral ceiling (R109.1) is made of 30” of blown cellulose. Air and vapor barriers are hygrovariable which allows good management of humidity in wall cavities (Proclima).

La mécanique du bâtiment

With regard to the mechanics of the building, the house is mainly heated by radiant heat on the two floors according to dedicated zones, and is equipped with a powerful centralized ventilation system Zehnder ComfoAir Q450 having a significant efficiency of more than 83% at -10 degrees. The electric boiler is the ComboMax Ultra 70 gal. of Thermo 2000 which has a dual function heating the radiant system and the domestic water.

Passive House certified doors and windows are manufactured by Cascadia Windows, a Canadian company located in the Vancouver area with the particularity of being made of fiberglass which minimizes the conductivity of cold or heat. G value of 0.52 - U value of 0.77 - Solar radiation of 0.43.