Phius Building Certification Associate Zoe Rader examines the advantages of the Phius Prescriptive Path, including scalability, templating and repeatability.
Learn more about how the Phius CORE Prescriptive Path works at our June 18 workshop!
After years of energy modeling and using WUFI Passive to determine if project-specific targets have been met, how does a prescriptive option help teams? Why would it be a good option? Beyond the elimination of a WUFI model and knowing the exact necessary requirements up front, Phius’ Prescriptive Path offers teams the opportunity for repeatability, templating, and scalability.
One project team specifically has taken full advantage of the scalability offered by the Prescriptive Path. On a single site in Washington DC, this project team has 17 total units planned, broken down into eight duplexes and a detached single-family home. The duplexes were split into different types: Type A and Type B. There are three Type B duplexes, five Type A duplexes, and the detached single-family home mimics a Type A unit. It’s also important to note that each duplex is comprised of a typical unit floor plan (Type A vs Type B) and the other unit is simply mirrored (Type A mirrored vs Type B mirrored).
So, how does this team access the opportunities of repeatability, templating, and scalability, and how are these opportunities helpful? As shown in the site plan diagram below, this group of projects is broken into nine separate Phius projects (eight duplexes and one detached single-family home) with each duplex requiring two Prescriptive Checklists (one checklist for the typical layout and one checklist for the typical mirrored layout).
Starting with Type A, Project #1, the project team completed the Prescriptive Checklist and submitted it to the project queue for Design Review where they went back and forth with the Phius certification team through rounds of review until all requirements were satisfied. Because the other unit in this duplex is simply mirrored, the team duplicated the original Prescriptive Checklist, adjusted the window orientation (note that the north and south windows remain the same whereas the east and west are flipped) to mirror the original unit, and this unit was then able to get Design Certified. Since Project #2 and Project #3 have an identical orientation to Project #1, Project #1’s Prescriptive Checklists (typical and mirrored) were then able to become direct, repeatable templates for Project #2 and Project #3.
As for Projects #4, #5, and #6, the same template created through Project #1 can be used. Similar to how the typical unit Prescriptive Checklist was duplicated and the window orientations were adjusted accordingly for the mirrored unit, the Prescriptive Checklists from Project #1 were able to be duplicated and the window orientations were adjusted accordingly (north and south window areas were mirrored) for Project #4.
Once again, a new template was created to be repeated for Projects #5 and #6. The biggest differences between Project #6 (the detached single-family home) and the others were that only one Prescriptive Checklist was required as it is only one unit, and there are a few requirements in the Prescriptive Path that do apply to detached single-family homes that don’t apply to duplexes and townhomes.
Finally, Type B followed the same pattern that Type A created. For Project #7, a Prescriptive Checklist was created for Type B’s typical unit and that Prescriptive Checklist was duplicated with window orientations adjusted accordingly to create a new Prescriptive Checklist for Type B’s mirrored unit, earning it Design Certification. Project #7’s two Prescriptive Checklists were then duplicated for Projects #8 and #9.
In essence, this project team was able to reach Design Certification for 17 units in a matter of a few months. Despite any challenges that may have arisen in certifying the first Type A and Type B units, all other units thereafter were able to be certified very quickly, with only a small round of review for each to ensure consistency across the projects. When thinking of the Prescriptive Path, think on a larger scale where designs can be easily repeatable and Prescriptive Checklists can be easily templated and duplicated with only minor changes.
