By Jay Fox

Passive House Accelerator has announced that the next major Reimagine Buildings event will focus on multifamily construction. The four-hour virtual conference will take place on March 12 and will feature practitioners, owners, and researchers who will share their expertise and real-world experiences while working on multifamily buildings built to Passive House standards. The topics covered by presenters will be applicable for a range of multifamily buildings, whether mid-size or high-rise, affordable or market-rate, retrofit or new construction.

Multifamily construction is a vital part of the building decarbonization effort, as it is estimated that around one third of the United States’ housing stock are multifamily homes. That is approximately 45 million units, and the share of multifamily construction with respect to total housing units has been steadily growing since the Great Recession. While the 1990s and first half of the 2000s saw a tremendous boom in single-family housing and anemic growth in multifamily (see Figure 1), we’ve witnessed more balance in the 2010s and 2020s, with the number of new multifamily buildings fluctuating between around 30% and 40% of total new builds, according to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data. If we don't find ways to cost-effectively make these buildings more efficient and less reliable on fossil fuels, there is no way we can reach our climate goals.

Of course, the technical challenges of new high-performance construction are only part of the story we’ll be telling at Reimagine Buildings: Multifamily. We’ll also feature experts who can provide actionable advice to better align performance, affordability, and scalability; describe how state and local policies are fostering environments that nurture and sustain communities of high-performance professionals, builders, and developers; and talk about the new materials that are transforming how we build.

More than just improving building efficiency and making it easier to deliver high-performance buildings on time and on budget, these bleeding edge technologies and methodologies are making buildings that are healthier and more comfortable for the people who live and work inside of them.

Speakers at the event will include:

• Ryan Abendroth – Build Zero Consulting, Co-Founder

• Michelle Apigian – ICON Architecture, Managing Principal

• Sara Bayer – MAP, Associate Principal & Director of Sustainability

• Joel Callow – Beyond Carbon Associates, Founding Director

• Jorge Chang – Urban Architectural Initiatives, Partner

• Stefan Goebel – Build Zero Consulting, Co-Founder & Principal

• Ed May – BLDGTYP, Partner

• Heather McKinstry – Dattner Architects, Senior Associate, Studio Director

• Jessica Morrissey – NEI General Contracting, Associate Director of Preconstruction Services

• Crystal Ng – Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, Senior Associate, Director of Sustainability

• Nick Nigro – Leggat McCall Properties, Senior Project Manager

• Shannon Pendleton – Sanderson Sustainable Design, Principal CPHC

• Marine Sanchez – RDH, Principal, Passive House Specialist, Service Lead

• Zack Semke – Passive House Accelerator, Director

• Galen Staengl – Staengl Engineering, President

• Kia Witherspoon – Determined by Design, Founder and President

“This conference brings together some of the most thoughtful voices in the passive building community,” says Passive House Accelerator Producer Kim Davis. “I’m really excited about the speaker lineup and the conversations that will come out of it. The Ask Us Anything panel is going to be a highlight, and we’re designing this to be interactive, so come ready to participate, ask questions, and learn alongside your peers.”

To check out the entire program and to reserve your (virtual) seat for next month’s event, follow the link below!