Last week we had the opportunity and pleasure to tour the, in construction, passive home of the architect who designed our Fort Collins Project (See previous posts)!

The lecture was held at Wolverine Farm here in Fort Collins. Emu Systems, run by Enrico Bonilauri and Mariana Pickering are training and consulting with builders, aspiring builders, architects and different trades to help people learn and implement passive haus building systems. Would you like to know more about Emu Systems? Check out their website: https://emu.systems/

The tour was conducted at well known architect Greg Fisher’s soon to be home. As mentioned, Greg designed the Fort Collins project we just completed. He wanted to learn more about passive haus construction processing and certificaion and decided to go all in with Emu Systems to certify his new home. It was a great afternoon watching Greg show off not only his beautiful home but his beautiful craftsmanship! Building a passive haus is a complicated and timely process, it takes a thoughtful approach and it is clear that Greg has the desire to pursue the process with his future designs while using this time building his new home as a learning opportunity! We look forward to watching the process of his house continue and working with him in the future!

Big thanks to Fort Collins Utilities Energy Code Compliance Specialist Brad Smith, who puts on these informative and fun Green Building Lectures that bring folks in from all over Colorado! Want to know more about the Green Building Lecture Series? Check out this Link: https://www.fcgov.com/greenbuilding/

The above excerpt was from 2019 when we had the opportunity to visit the early stages of the Millhaus home designed and built by Greg Fisher. Greg took part in Emu Systems passive house trades person certification and his home build was a pilot project with Emu. Fast forward two years later and Greg and his wife are now living in this beautiful home and we had the opportunity to once again tour it during the Passive House Open House days. Greg’s design and craftsmanship shine so elegantly, and his use of interesting (bark siding) or recycled materials (brick) add to unique story of Millhaus.

There were several groups of couples all very curious about passive house at the tour and we love seeing more and more people interested in utilizing this approach in a new home build! Reflecting back on the tour the one thing that I think about, and this is something that comes up whenever we talk about what passive building or efficient building is, is how complicated the process can seem to folks. Building a house in general, even tradition home building can seem daunting with all it’s stages and parts, but it shouldn’t be! Our approach is to build simpler to build better! The more approachable the concept is, the easier it is to implement. As always, if you’re interested in discussing building an efficient home or passive house don’t be shy, reach out!

Below are few photos from the tour of Millhaus and of some details I really loved as well as a group photo. If you’re interested in more from Millhaus check out Emu Systems Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/emubldgscience/?hl=en