Designing for the future? Integrating energy efficiency and universal design in Belgian passive houses

Abstract

Energy efficiency and universal design in housing are high on policy and research agendas. Although in both domains there are policies and programs which aim to convince homeowners to adopt energy efficiency measures or universal design, they have had limited results and rarely take into account the impact on the other domain. Better integration could lead to more sustainable and appealing housing concepts to emerge, resulting in more effective policy. Currently there is scarce research that investigates the integration in private housing of energy efficiency and lifelong living, a physical outcome of universal design principles in housing. This research asks what energy efficiency and lifelong living measures are currently integrated by homeowners and what were the motivations behind the adoption? Nine owner-occupied, privately commissioned, single-family homes in Flanders, which are built to Passive house standards and have also implemented lifelong living measures were examined. Mixed methods were used for analysis including semi-structured interviews with homeowners, architectural drawings and video recording or photographs of a home walk-through. Inhabitants tended to focus on the practical long term effect of their choices on their own families in parallel or above societal impacts of sustainability. It was easier for them to find information on energy efficiency than on universal design. The participants viewed the two fields as either unrelated or as parts of the same goal and they saw no significant conflicts in their integration. Meanwhile, indifference or path dependency from architects and contractors presents resistance rather than facilitation towards residents’ goals, particularly on universal design.