How To Work Out The Passive House Form Factor

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How to work out the Passive House Form Factor

25 April 2016 by Patrick
The Passive House Form Factor quantifies the relationship between the living
area of the building and the total amount of surface area that heat can escape
from.
The calculation is simple:
Total heat loss area ÷ floor area = Form Factor

The Form Factor of a building is key in low energy design because it tells you
how thick your insulation has to be. If you can halve the form factor (ie, simplify
the building’s shape) you can halve the wall insulation you need to get the
same thermal performance. The lower number the better.
The average semi-detached house has a form factor of 3. Here’s a typical UK

home dormer roof, the complication of which will give it a Passivhaus Form
Factor of 3 or 4:
Why is a block of flats so good?
Imagine a block of flats in London is 20 metres wide, 40 metres high and 10

metres long, like Trellick Tower:
To get the total Heat Loss Area we work out the areas of each of this building’s
six sides:
[(20 x 40) + (40 x 10) + (10 x 20)] x 2 = 2800 square metres
Then we need to work out the total floor area for the building. This is an 8-storey
building, so each floor area has to be counted:
10m x 20m = 200 square metres x 8 floors = 1600 square metres
The Form Factor is the heat loss area divided by the total floor area, so:
2800 ÷ 1600 = 1.75
1.75 is a great form factor. Now look at this building:
Because of its relatively complicated architectural design, it has a lot of surface

area for heat to escape from. This probably gives it a Form Factor of about 3, so
it will require over twice as much insulation thickness as the block of flats.
That’s frustrating because a lot of the complications of this home (ie, the
dormers and the eaves) were designed in because it’s considered traditional in
UK housing. But the penalty for those little extra walls either side of the dormers
will result in heat loss across the building’s lifetime.
Cubism was a thread of architecture which accentuated the corners and edges
of a building, to the (unintended) degree that the form factor would be
incredibly poor, and it would make the buildings really hard to keep warm in
winter – especially the one which sits on the St Laurence River in Montreal…
If you’re investigating Passivhaus design for your renovation or new build

project, particularly as regards airtightness or MVHR, please feel free to contact
me with any questions and I’ll be happy to help.
 Architecture, PassivHaus
 Form Factor, Low Energy Design, Montreal, Passive House
 The relationship between Power and Energy – and what it has to do with
your home
 What’s wrong with a Passive House?
2 thoughts on “How to work out the Passive House Form Factor”
JB
10 February 2023 at 9:22 am
I suspect your analysis of Trelick is deeply floored (gedit?). It is more like

a computer heatsink than an efficient heat design. You ignore all the
little balconies and walkways, and you also ignore insulation between
flats.
Reply
Patrick
10 February 2023 at 10:10 am
Hi there,
The use of Trellick Tower as an example of a block of flats was because I

took that photo during Carnival one year. But you’re right that it is
overly complicated and features a lot of cold bridging elements
(literally including the cold bridge to the stairs), which doesn’t make it a
great example of good form factor.
If you look at more standard block-built flats with no balconies, these

follow the efficient form factor design much more closely.
Best wishes,
Patrick
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8/19/23, 11:19 PM How to work out the Passive House Form Factor - HEAT, SPACE AND LIGHT LTD

HEAT, SPACE AND LIGHT LTD

The calculation is simple:

Total heat loss area ÷ floor area = Form Factor

The average semi-detached house has a form factor of 3. Here’s a typical UK

Why is a block of flats so good?

Imagine a block of flats in London is 20 metres wide, 40 metres high and 10

[(20 x 40) + (40 x 10) + (10 x 20)] x 2 = 2800 square metres

10m x 20m = 200 square metres x 8 floors = 1600 square metres

2800 ÷ 1600 = 1.75

1.75 is a great form factor. Now look at this building:

Because of its relatively complicated architectural design, it has a lot of surface

If you’re investigating Passivhaus design for your renovation or new build

2 thoughts on “How to work out the Passive House Form Factor”

I suspect your analysis of Trelick is deeply floored (gedit?). It is more like

The use of Trellick Tower as an example of a block of flats was because I

If you look at more standard block-built flats with no balconies, these

© 2023 HEAT, SPACE AND LIGHT LTD • Built with GeneratePress

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