ABSTRACT
Challenging, taxing and tough just begin to describe the experience of shepherding one of the first PH buildings in China, built entirely of materials manufactured in China, from design through construction to certification. Dawid Michulec, building physicist and civil engineer with the Austrian firm Schberl and Pll GmbH, spent the better part of a year shuttling between Vienna and Beijing to guide the construction of this combined office and residential complex in Zhuozhou, just south of Beijing. Such close quality management was key to this innovative, complicated PH project attaining its certification. The obstacles to completing the project were many, including finding right PH-quality products and the near-constant traveling to perform the on-site quality management. Connecting doors, which meet a strict air tightness requirement, allow for travel between the two separate, but adjoining, structures. The residential building has the same ventilation unit with the double rotary exchangers, and the same geothermal system combined with a heat pump delivers heating and cooling.
