Cousins River Passive House Redefines Sustainable Living in Maine

Passive homes tend to be a little boxy and unappealing, which is probably the reason they haven’t caught on as much as they could. So it’s nice to see companies finding ways around that. One such example is certainly the Cousins River Residence, which was designed by GO Logic of Maine. This firm has been making prefab and passivhaus homes for a while now, and the simple elegance of their designs sets them apart from others.

The Cousins River Residence is located in Freeport, Maine. It measures 1600 square feet, was designed, and was built to Passivhaus standards. It is very well insulated, with the foundation rating R35, the wall R50, and the roof R80. It was also fitted with high-performance triple-pane German windows, which provide 50% solar heat gain and have a rating of R8.

The home also features a heat recovery ventilation system that boasts an 88% efficiency. The shell of the home is airtight and provides 0.5 air changes per hour at 50 Pa. The home is also near net-zero and features a rooftop-mounted 4.6 KW Photovoltaic array, which takes care of the remaining energy needs.

The specs are great, but what’s also very impressive is that the home is modern architecture at its best. The shape of a home is simple enough to blend in seamlessly in any environment, and the color palette they chose is mostly whites and naturals. The single-story home features a large living and dining area, with a spacious kitchen at one end. One of the walls of this area is covered by glass doors that let in plenty of natural light into the home, which is something not often seen in passive homes.

The home also features a wooden deck, a screened-in porch, as well as a covered walkway. One of the main aims the designers had when planning the home was to provide freedom of movement both inside the home and between the interior and exterior. They also designed it so that it is easily accessible for both the young and the old, since the current owners plan to spend a long time living in it.