Terrassa Haus in Terrassa, Barcelona, is a fully electric building consisting of 14 homes and two commercial premises. It will generate just 10% of the CO2 emissions produced by neighbouring buildings over its lifetime. By implementing both passive and active design strategies, along with rigorous on-site control, it has become a highly sustainable building, consuming approximately 80% less energy than other buildings in the area.
Terrassa Haus is also the first multi-family building in the Catalan city to obtain Passivhaus certification. This project, developed by Cambolico and designed by architect Antoni Espona, features a series of sustainable construction measures. This includes thermal insulation in walls and roofs with mineral wool glass, high-performance windows, natural and controlled ventilation with heat recovery and efficient installations with a heat pump in each house.
Terrassa Haus is also unique in that it was built on an existing concrete frame, "which, although it indeed caused some difficulties when designing and installing the thermal insulation, was not a significant obstacle," points out Oliver Style, Praxis Resilient Buildings, the company in charge of the Passivhaus design and the Blower Door tests to measure the level of infiltration.
"In some places, we had to use insulation with a lower conductivity than normal to maximise thickness where the existing structure limited us. Both for economic and ecological reasons, taking advantage of the existing structure was a clear objective and has been achieved without any major issues," says Bega Clavero, also from Praxis.
An external thermal insulation system (EIFS), consisting of expanded polystyrene was used to wrap the building in a continuous layer of insulation. Inside, Knauf Insulation mineral wool was employed in the installation chamber of the exterior walls as well as in the partition walls between rooms and flats. This insulation boasts a low environmental impact and minimal emissions of volatile organic compounds, being composed of over 80% recycled glass and featuring the E-Tecnology binder, which is plant-based and free from added phenols and formaldehyde.
"It protects workers on the construction site and future users from harmful emissions by providing highly effective thermal and acoustic insulation," Style concludes. This Knauf Insulation glass mineral wool has the DECLARE seal of transparency for its composition of healthy materials.
Terrassa Haus has passed an external audit and been awarded Passivhaus Classic certification, which enhances the building's value and confir the quality of both the project and its execution.
