PhiusCon 2025 - Few Highlights

Here’s a quick roundup of a few highlights and industry updates from #PhiusCon

Scale is no barrier for Passive Building

A major milestone for large-scale applications — like Alloy Development’s 62-story, 582-apartment high-rise in NYC (One Third Avenue) aiming Passive House certification and proving that comfort, resilience, and efficiency work on large scale projects.

Source: https://www.alloyllc.com/work/one-third-avenue

Passive House Certification is Required in Multifamily

More than 50 cities and towns in Massachusetts — representing about 30% of the state’s population — have adopted the Specialized Energy Code, which requires new multifamily buildings over 12,000 square feet to achieve Passive House certification.For professionals working on multifamily Passive House projects, this recent article byBeth CampbellandAlexander Gard-Murrayoffers valuable insights around values, planning, airtightness, ventilation, and role-specific training—along with strategies to scale successful delivery.

Massachusetts Building Energy Code Adoption by Municipality (link)

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VxK47TfErRTTA6h781QVlWpIBpxFn2A0/view?pli=1

Window to Wall Joint Detail 

We spotted this clever window-to-wall joint detail at #PhiusCon last week — a multi-functional expandable foam tape that acts as both water and air barrier.

While it’s designed for this purpose, installation details matter. Brackets or straps can introduce small gaps that lead to air leakage, so adding a flashing tape—especially at the sill—helps maintain continuity of the water and air barrier.

There’s more to unpack in this section. What do you notice? Have you used this type of product?

Also, check this video from my visit to Hanno’s factory in Germany to see best-practice installation in action.

Source: PhiusCon

If you are interested to learn about Passive House and Net Zero Energy building design principles, feel free to follow BuildZeroConsulting on LinkedIn.