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Building Performance Architecture Becomes Accelerator Partner

We’re very happy to announce that Building Performance Architecture (BPA) has become an Accelerator Partner! Based just outside of Pittsburgh, in the town of Carnegie, BPA has been one of the pillars of the high-performance building community in Western Pennsylvania since being founded in 2008. They assist project teams working on multifamily, commercial, or institutional buildings, pushing them to improve building performance and achieve project goals.

BPA's bread and butter has been creating quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) programs for building projects, whether they are retrofits or new builds. These programs can range from being extremely comprehensive (as is the case with total building commissioning) to focusing on one specific building system (as is the case with building envelope commissioning). They can also occur during any phase of the building’s development, whether it is in the design phase, during construction, or even after it’s already built.

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Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Exhibit Staging Center

BPA provided comprehensive building enclosure commissioning services on the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Exhibit Staging Center, which has received LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge certifications.

  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA

  • Completed: 2019

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ANSYS Hall at Carnegie Mellon University

ANSYS Hall at Carnegie Mellon University is a LEED Gold-certified, state-of-the-art building that has become a central part of the College of Engineering. BPA provided comprehensive building envelope commissioning services for this project, from design review through quality control testing, contributing points toward the building’s LEED Gold certification, and helping the project team avoid building envelope defects.

  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA

  • Completed: 2020

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Pittsburgh International Airport

The Pittsburgh International Airport is undergoing a major transformation. The Terminal Modernization Program involves updating the Airside terminal of the airport and replacing the existing Landside terminal with a new, LEED Gold-targeted terminal. BPA performed vital building envelope QA/QC services, such as design details review, collaboration on an extensive mockup and field testing program, commissioning specification writing, submittal review, issues log, and many other tasks.

  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA

  • Completion expected in 2025

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For Uptown Lofts North and Uptown Lofts South, BPA worked closely with the project’s architect, 40 80 Architecture, and the contractor, Mosites Construction, to inspect, test, troubleshoot, confirm, and certify the two buildings under their respective programs.
For Uptown Lofts North and Uptown Lofts South, BPA worked closely with the project’s architect, 40 80 Architecture, and the contractor, Mosites Construction, to inspect, test, troubleshoot, confirm, and certify the two buildings under their respective programs.
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Passive Foundations

BPA Principal Rob Hosken is no stranger to passive principles. Hosken grew up in a passive solar home in Wisconsin that was built before the Passive House standard was even invented. Soon after founding BPA in 2008, he began working with teams on Passive House projects in Pennsylvania. Notably, this included the Passive House retrofit of a YMCA building in McKeesport that was converted into 84 units of housing for individuals at risk of homelessness. BPA assisted with the performance of the whole-building blower door testing on the project. When completed in 2014, it became the first large-scale retrofit in the US to attempt to meet the Passive House standard.

The McKeesport retrofit may have been BPA's very first passive project, but Uptown Lofts was the project that helped BPA find its niche as a passive building verifier. While BPA was hoping to work as an architect with ACTION-Housing, Inc., the non-profit developer said what it needed was a verifier for their 23-unit multifamily Passive House pilot project (Uptown Lofts North), as well as the 24-unit Uptown Lofts South, which they intended to certify under ENERGY STAR. BPA met the challenge by obtaining the Phius+ Rater credential, becoming the first Phius+ Rater in the Pittsburgh region. In 2015, Uptown Lofts North became one of the first Phius+ certified apartment buildings in the US.

Completed in 2020, Second + Delaware contains two nearly identical buildings and a total of 276 units. It was certified under Phius+ 2018 CORE.
Completed in 2020, Second + Delaware contains two nearly identical buildings and a total of 276 units. It was certified under Phius+ 2018 CORE.
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Second and Delaware

BPA was also involved in another seminal Passive House project, Second + Delaware in Kansas City, Missouri. BPA designed the QA/QC program for the project, consulting Phius to confirm its acceptability. BPA also helped with commissioning the ventilation system and conducting the blower door tests.

This was an inspiring project for engineers, architects, and building science nerds across North America because nothing close to this scale had ever been attempted in either the United States or Canada at the time. With well over 300,000 square feet of conditioned space, it will continue to be among the largest Phius-certified projects in North America for years to come.

The 52-unit senior housing apartment building received final certification in 2022.
The 52-unit senior housing apartment building received final certification in 2022.
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Emerald Hills Retirement Residence

Located in the Pittsburgh suburb Penn Hills, the Emerald Hills Retirement Residence was certified under Phius+ 2018. BPA provided all the design review, preconstruction services, and construction-phase testing and inspection to confirm that the building met the requirements of ENERGY STAR, EPA Indoor Air Plus, Zero Energy Ready Homes, Phius+ 2018, and Enterprise Green Communities. BPA worked closely with the contractor to make recommendations on improvements needed for compliance. 

From the large rooftop photovoltaic array, to the power draw of the energy recovery ventilator units, to the whole building’s envelope air leakage, BPA observed and measured all the required criteria and ensured that certifications were granted. BPA also completed the Enterprise Green Communities green building certification for this high-performance project.

"One of my purposes is to inspire people see that they can do green buildings," Hosken says. In many ways, BPA serves a similar role as a personal trainer. However, instead of pushing trainees to surpass their perceived limits and get into better shape through diet and exercise, BPA uses expert, hands-on QA/QC solutions to encourage project teams to improve building performance. With their assistance, teams can find pathways to certification through a variety of building standards, including Passive House.

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For those who follow Hosken on LinkedIn, you may be familiar with his Thermal Thursdays series. What you may not know is that he has used his skills with the infrared camera to create a calendar: “Thermal Thursdays (and every other day)”. The calendar is now in production and is available for purchase through the link below.

Order the 2025 Calendar

Learn More About BPA and IR Camerawork

Author: Passive House Accelerator Team
Categories: Article, News, Sponsored