Phius is hosting the first-ever Phius Foundations Live! event May 29 in Tucson, Arizona, a one-day event designed to bring introductory passive building content to the local community.
The year 2026 is shaping up to be the year Phius brings passive building to the Southwest in full force.
Not only is PhiusCon 2026 scheduled for Oct. 8-10 in Phoenix, but we are also hosting a brand new one-day event this spring in Tucson called Phius Foundations Live! Passive Building in the Southwest. The program, scheduled for May 29, will feature a taste of the introductory passive building content offered in our self-guided Passive Building Foundations course with a local flair.
Phius Foundations Live! is designed to serve the local community, offering a hands-on introduction to the world of Phius and passive building. With PhiusCon coming to the area later this year, Phius Foundations Live! will set the stage and provide an approachable atmosphere for Phius-curious locals to learn more about the world of passive building. It is not designed for those who are already Phius Certified, as the content of the presentation is covered in all Phius Certification courses. Phius Foundations Live! attendees will be able to complete the Foundations Training for just $100 (regularly $450) to earn the Phius Associate designation!
Phius staff members will bring some of the highlights of the Foundations Training to life, starting with an introduction to passive building concepts in the morning followed by more targeted, but still high-level, content in the afternoon. Topics such as building physics, mechanical systems, the Phius Certification process, and more will be covered. The event was created for a regional audience, so the content will be tailored to the local climate and industry context wherever possible.
Phius Foundations Live! will intersect with the final day of the Comfort at the Extremes conference, affording attendees the chance to dive into the world of thermal comfort and building science. Both events will take place on the University of Arizona campus, and a happy hour is currently in the works (more details soon!), so networking opportunities will be plentiful.
It is critical to our mission that we continue to foster the growth of the passive building community across the United States and beyond, in addition to supporting our existing practitioners. Phius Foundations Live! Passive Building in the Southwest is integral to those larger efforts through its impact in Arizona and the surrounding area this year, and as a template for future events in regions with burgeoning high-performance building industries.
Our highly engaged and ever-growing Phius Alliance Southwest chapter has provided valuable boots-on-the-ground support as we venture into the Southwest for Phius Foundations Live! and PhiusCon in the hopes of spurring activity and creating another passive building hotbed. As we plan for the future, we hope to do the same in areas around the country, into Canada and even beyond North America. As the only globally applicable, locally tailored passive building standard, our aim is to leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding new communities in which passive building can flourish and empowering local professionals to build healthier, more efficient buildings.
Phius Foundations Live!, starting with the Southwest edition, was created to catalyze those efforts, and we look forward to it kicking off our yearlong campaign to grow and support passive building in the Southwest!