Hands on. Every project.
BLDGTYP is a small, hands-on Passive House consultancy by design. When you hire us, the people doing your energy model, resolving your thermal bridges, and answering your certifier are the same partners whose names are on the door. We met in the M.Arch program at Parsons and built our first high-performance buildings together for the U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon in 2009. Since then, our work has stayed laser focused on buildings that perform the way the model says they will.
Ed May
Ed has spent his career on the science of building performance: simulation, envelope detailing, hygrothermal analysis, and the software that ties it together. He was Principal-in-Charge of Candela Lofts, the first PHI-certified multifamily building in New Jersey, and of one of the first EnerPHit-certified retrofits in the US (a landmarked Brooklyn townhouse). He is also the developer and maintainer of the open-source Passive House Tools toolkit, used by PH practitioners worldwide. He has taught Passive House practice for the Passive House Network, Passive House Canada, and as faculty at Stevens Institute of Technology and Parsons, including as faculty lead for the DOE Solar Decathlon 2015 team.
- Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC): Phius, 2016
- Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD): Passive House Institute, 2013
- M.Arch: Parsons School of Design, 2009
- Teaching: Passive House Academy · Passive House Canada · Passive House Network · Stevens Institute (Industry Professor) · Parsons (Adjunct Faculty) · Reimagine Buildings Collective (Expert in Residence)
- Solar Decathlon: 2015 Stevens Inst. | Faculty Lead and Project Manager; 2011 Parsons NewSchool | Construction Manager
John Mitchell
John has been a Passive House designer since 2013, shepherding projects through both the PHI and Phius certification programs, from landmarked Brooklyn townhouse retrofits to large multifamily and small commercial work. He was Principal-in-Charge of one of the first Phius-certified homes in Maine and of PHI-certified projects from Brooklyn to New Mexico, handling everything from shading and thermal-bridge simulation to mechanical system design for clients with demanding indoor-air-quality requirements. He has taught with the Passive House Network since 2014, training hundreds of practitioners in person and online.
- Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC): Phius, 2016
- Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD): Passive House Institute, 2013
- Living Future Accredited Professional (LFA): ILFI, 2021
- M.Arch: Parsons School of Design, 2009
- Teaching: Passive House Network (2014-present) · Parsons (Adjunct Faculty)
- Solar Decathlon: 2011 Parsons NewSchool | Construction Manager
We build the tools and do the work.
Most consultancies buy their software and guard their methods. We do the opposite: our modeling toolkit is open-source, our methods are published freely, and our training has reached hundreds of practitioners through every major Passive House training organization in North America. A stronger high-performance building industry helps everyone. We want you to see exactly how we think before you hire us.
Open-source, by design
We develop and maintain the Passive House Tools stack: Honeybee-PH, PHX, and related libraries that connect standard CAD/BIM platforms to WUFI-Passive and PHPP. When your project needs an answer the textbook doesn't have, we're often the team that wrote the tool.
Trained the trainers
Between us we've taught Passive House practice for the Passive House Network, Passive House Canada, Stevens Institute, Parsons, and two U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon teams. The talks and tutorials are all free on the Learn page.
Firsts, on purpose
First PHI-certified multifamily building in New Jersey. Among the first EnerPHit retrofits in the US and the first Phius homes in Maine. We take on projects where the details have not been worked out yet. Then we publish what we learned.
Want us on your team?
Send us your drawings at any stage.
Earlier involvement gives us more room to de-risk your project.