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Passive pioneers | G∙O Logic sets a new bar for energy-efficient building
By: Rebecca Goldfine / Oct 31, 2011

In Belfast, a little red house at the edge of a small field of milkweed has been causing a stir since it was built in 2010. It’s been on the cover of Maine Home and Design, was featured on the TV show “This New House” on the DIY network and been the subject of many news stories. It also recently won the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2011 project of the year. The object of all this attention is small and neat, with a pitched roof topped with shimmering blue solar panels. It’s painted the bright red of a classic New England barn — a deliberate decision by its two creators to attract attention to an innovative home design for Maine and the rest of the country.

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Unity College green dorm moving forward with construction
By: Max Cole / Jul 5, 2011

UNITY, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Construction is moving right along on the Terrahaus, a green dormitory for students at Unity College, what's expected to be the most energy efficient building of its kind in the country.

Construction work began just after graduation, and ten students will be moving in when school resumes in the fall. The building is expected to use 90% less energy for space heating than a normal code compliant building in Maine, and it will also have energy efficient windows and insulation systems.

School officials are hopeful the project will not just be unique to Unity College.

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Unity College Green Dorm
By: Meghan Hayward / June 24th 2011

Unity College is taking the slogan "go green" to another level.

"We really believe there has to be consistency between the lifestyle our students experience on campus and what we're teaching in the classroom. So we're always looking for how to promote new ideas and sustainability."

Which is why a passive house as a student residence seemed like the perfect addition.

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Passive Impressive
By: Rebecca Falzano

The prototype for Belfast cohousing and ecovillage racks up sustainable credentials and packs a design punch.

Imagine that, instead of building just a custom home for your family, you could build a custom neighborhood. Shoulder to shoulder with your future neighbors, you would come up with ideas and designs. Once it was built, you would have your own private home, but also access to shared resources, common spaces, and a supportive living environment. Imagine raising your children in this close-knit neighborhood, which comes with built-in playmates and backyard gardens in which they learn to grow vegetables and compost. “It takes a village,” after all, but what if the modern-day equivalent is “It takes an ecovillage”?

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GO Home is the 12th Passive House in the US
By: Tamas Banki

In Maine, the standard for green design and construction has been officially raised with the completion and certification of The GO Home in Belfast, which is the first Passive House Certified Home in Maine and only the 12th Passive House in the entire United States.

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Green Essentials
By: Bruce Irving

Growing up in small-town Michigan, Maine-based architect Matt O'Malio couldn't wait "to catch the first bus out". The journey eventually took him to Germany and Austria, where he spent time during high school and hi college years of architecture studies. Along with a new language, he learned the European approach to design. "They have a strong drive toward problem solving, which contrasted to the almost nostalgic approach I was getting in the states," he says.

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Gearing Up for a Passive House Residence at Unity College
By: Richard Defendorf

Unity College has announced that GO Logic Homes of Belfast, Maine has been awarded the contract for the design of a one-of-a-kind residence hall on an American college campus.

GO Logic Homes will design a Unity College residence hall to the Passive House standard. If the construction achieves the standard, it will be the first Passive House residence hall constructed on a college or university campus in the United States, confirm officials at the Passive House Institute US of Urbana, Illinois.

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Maine Watch: Green Home Construction in Maine
By: Jennifer Rooks

You might have heard about zero-energy homes in places like southern California, but here in Maine? A new house is Belfast comes pretty close. This program looks at new trends in green home construction.

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Savings Plan: A Zero-Energy Design Breaks the Affordability Barrier
By: Bruce D. Snider · March 1, 2010

Building a super-energy-efficient single-family house at an affordable cost is no easy task. In Maine, with its frigid winters, the challenge is especially stiff. But G•O Logic, a design/build collabo­ration of architect Matthew O’Malia and builder Alan Gibson, has produced a stylish and practical prototype house that will meet both Passivhaus and LEED Platinum standardsat a construction cost of only $150 per square foot. “Instead of just building a slightly better shell,” O’Malia says, “we’re building a home that uses 90 percent less energy for space heating.”

Design innovations begin with a shallow foundation completely isolated from the earth by rigid insulation (including the footings that support the hybrid timber-frame structural system). Using the Passivhaus Planning Package software to model various building shell configurations and mechanical systems eliminated the need for a mechanical engineer. Production efficiencies center on a computer model that guides fabri­cation of all major structural components. The 6½-inch-thick SIPs arrive at the site pre-cut and ready to lift into place. Proper solar orientation, fanatical air sealing, reduced thermal bridging, and ultra-high-performance German windows help the building meet an annual energy consumption target of 120 kilowatts per square meter.

G•O Logic offers the house in 1,200-square-foot, 1,500-square-foot, and 1,700-square-foot versions and will rent out the prototype for two years to monitor its long-term energy performance.

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"Passive House" Does Away With Heating Bills, Maine Designers Say
By: Tom Porter · April 2, 2010

In Maine's cold-weather climate, it might seem like an impossible task to design a house that requires almost no heating, but this is what a firm of mid-coast architects is doing. G-O-Logic in Belfast is putting the finishing touches to a prototype dwelling that looks on the surface like a simply-designed, three-bedroom, 1,500 square foot family home with a peaked roof on about an acre of land. But this is no ordinary house: It's about to be approved as Maine's first so-called "Passive-House" certified home -- and indeed one of the few to be found in the Northeast.

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