2024 Planet Positive Awards > Single-Family Home > Winner

Perched on a rocky outcropping in a quiet residential neighborhood, the Brucewood Homes are Boston’s first internationally certified single-family Passive Homes. 

The homes use less energy for heating and cooling compared with conventional houses. The exceptional airtightness and controlled ventilation result in greater thermal comfort and excellent indoor air quality for very little energy. With solar arrays on the roofs, all three homes run net zero or net positive despite all three homeowners driving and charging electric vehicles. One home has reported using 23 kBtu/sf/yr while producing 34 kBtu/sf/yr—that’s 148 percent of its energy needs met with on-site renewables.

The buildings’ lower level is clad in a product made from recycled poly-ash, an industrial by-product; the upper level is clear-finished white cedar sourced locally from Maine. Below the surface, the strapping is reclaimed wood from a local demolished barn.

The homes were carefully sited to minimize the amount of ledge removed from the site, reducing the impact of construction on the site and neighbors. The site plan preserved a number of mature trees, reducing runoff and erosion, and maintaining the urban tree canopy.

The project’s financial success proved to the developer and to the greater community that the market is ready for Passive House on spec. The developer and design team are now working on an 18-home Passive House neighborhood on a 28-acre site in the suburbs south of Boston, anticipating construction to start in early 2025.

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