First Passive House in Chicago Gets a Few Revisions
Last Updated: Feb 20, 2025Rodrigo and Corinna Lema were tired of their Chicago home. The 1950s Georgian was drafty, which meant "money out the window," says Rodrigo Lema, a software designer. Adds Corinna Lema: "Our dream was to find a house less dependent on oil and gas," but the couple couldn't find anything they liked. Other homes had too high a heating bill and did not even come close to the couple's energy objectives. The couple decided, finally, to build their own home.
They found architect Tom Bassett-Dilley, of Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects in Oak Park, a certified Passive House consultant. "We didn't set out to build a Passive House," Lema says, "but we wanted more energy efficiency in our home than we'd experienced in a previous house or while house shopping. Tom convinced us to take the passive house route. He sold us on how insulation, solar gain, and balanced ventilation would allow the house to take care of itself."
Table of Contents
- Passive House Principles
- A Passive House, Revised
- Healthy Home
- Passive House Recommendations
The Lemas found an ideal lot in Chicago and began building their dream house. When completed in 2012, the Lema residence was the first certified Passive House in the Chicago area. Biltmore Insulated Concrete took care of the thermal shell. Evolutionary Home Builders served as the general contractor. Bassett-Dilley designed the home and conducted the calculations that would ensure high performance spatially, structurally, and mechanically.
Seven years later, says Bassett-Dilley, currently a council member of the Passive House Alliance, he's realized that "as building codes keep ratcheting up specifications for building tightness, and as we continue to translate the German Passivhaus standards to U.S. climates, the specifics of the locality are becoming more critical to the successful performance of passive houses in this country." That meant a few changes in the Lemas' home, as well.
Passive House Principles
Homes designed using Passive House principles have the most airtight and highly insulated building envelopes in the industry—resulting in heating and cooling loads way below those racked up by systems in a traditional home. Because of Chicago's climate of extremes—tropical heat and humidity in the summer, and polar vortices of bitter cold and aridity in the winter, the Lemas' home needed some cooling and heating.
The house has insulated concrete form (ICF) foundations and walls, a wood truss roof with plywood barrier and suspended ceiling, and Zola Thermo triple-pane aluminum-clad windows. With the structure in place, Bassett-Dilley could model the home's thermal performance and calculate how much heat and cooling the house would need
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
