Perceived Comfort and Adaptive Process of Passivhaus ‘Participants’

Passivhaus methodology leads to buildings with very high thermal efficiency and high levels of airtightness. The focus of research in Passivhaus is energy performance. The experience of occupying a Passivhaus is often overlooked. This research takes into account social factors of comfort among Passivhaus ‘participants’; draws comparison between their expectations and evaluations of the ‘perceived comfort’; and investigates the behavioural and psychological adaptive processes that contribute to this ‘perceived comfort’. A diverse range of Passivhaus projects built in the past few years in the UK is studied with a mixed method approach. The findings suggest a strong correlation between social aspects of comfort and the participants’ evaluation of their Passivhaus, where the adaptive processes are potentially reinforced (or reduced) by this association.