With obsessive attention to preserving and restoring the original fabric of these two Victorian townhouses, and a commitment to shunning petrochemicals and using only natural materials, could this be the most wildly ambitious and sustainable passive retrofit ever undertaken in the UK?

This beautifully designed passive house showcases some of the very best in contemporary urban architecture, responding thoughtfully to its historic surroundings while making ultra-intelligent use of space to create an airy, warm and light-filled home on a small mews site in South London.

An award-winning social housing development in South Dublin points to a sustainable way out of Ireland’s housing crisis.

Situated in a stunning location in the west of Ireland, between Galway Bay and the limestone hills of the Burren, this project provided a complex challenge in three parts: deep retrofit an old cottage into a yoga studio, reinvigorate its original extension, and build a new barrel-roofed passive-grade extension — then make it all work together as one unified home and workspace.

This issue features the 28-storey Bolueta building in Bilbao, which is the tallest building in the world certified to the passive house standard, and a clothing factory in Sri Lanka that’s also the first passive house project in South Asia.