PH Architecture

Peter put our goals first and was always willing to listen as the complex rennovation project evolved. Peter provided guidance during the project concept and schematic design phases, which carried through to final permit drawings, and a major plan revision made at owners request. Significantly rennovating an existing house envelope, structure and interior while preserving original floors, beams and other elements presented both opportunities and challenges. Addressing these challenges required flexibility and successful communication between owner, architect and contractor. The overarching program and project objectives were achieved as a result.

PH Architecture is a company whom I can recommend without any reservations. Over the past 10+ years, I have personally collaborated with Peter Henry on many architectural projects as recently as 2017. We have designed and completed construction documents for a wide range of buildings, including new high-end residential, major additions to existing homes, and even commercial work. Peter has an excellent aesthetic sense. He is the most experienced architect I have ever teamed with. His work ethic is wonderful. Schedules are always met and budgets are never exceeded. He is always looking for the most economical and energy efficient solutions. As an Accredited Passivhaus expert, he adds a dimension of design to every project that most other architects cannot add.

Peter has been a pleasure to work with and has been receptive to multiple change requests to make sure we have the best plans possible.

Peter is a gifted architect and expert environmental consultant. He's independent (can work with a range of different builders), works quickly, is diligent in researching details, and a distinguished passive house and green architect. Whether you are designing a new home, building an addition, or looking to make your home more environmentally friendly, we would highly recommend Peter. Peter is able to translate a high-level vision for a property - in our case designing a custom addition, with a deep knowledge of engineering, structural design, and material selection. Beyond the steps of design, Peter provided onsite consultation and ensured the green aspects of the home were properly executed by sub-contractors who did not always have familiarity with the green materials. We appreciate this review may come across a little over the top ...we're just that satisfied with Peter's combined approach and feel passionately about the value and expertise he brings to a project. As an aside, we appreciated that Peter contributes to the community as a professor as well as participating in local environmental group meetings. We are happy to discuss the details of our project for anyone considering working with Peter.

My husband and I live in a little historic row house. I've always loved the house, but it just felt too tight. We hired Peter with the idea of doing some basic modifications. While he said he could do that, he suggested a more major modifications that totally transformed the house. (His ability to get maximum use out of every little space is amazing.) We went with the larger plan, and couldn't be happier. The house does not feel small at all now! Peter is easy to work with, has a great since of space, and is incredibly thorough. Highly recommended.

Building this very energy efficient home was a major effort for everyone involved, especially for our architect Peter Henry. After designing the house to superinsulated and energy-conserving Passive House requirements, he spent time every week during construction to meet with the contractor and sub-contractors to alert them about nuances in the design and to review their work and answer questions as they came up. Nuances included things such as 6 inches of insulation under the basement slab, using gaskets to air seal under the sill plate, using special tape to seal all sheathing joints and penetrations, calculating the actual heating and cooling loads, designing an energy efficient ventilation system, specifying energy efficient triple pane windows, and specifying multipoint locks on all door to ensure a good air seal around each door. Those are just a few of the many energy efficiency details. Even though the house is completely powered by electricity the monthly energy bill is zero after the addition of 18 solar PV panels. The many windows convey much natural light to the interior all year long while the design minimizes heat from direct sunlight during the hot summer months. The indoor air comfort of this house is truly amazing. No drafts or cold spots during the winter in this house. No hot spots and no high humidity during the summer. The ventilation system provides continuously filtered fresh air. The two story space of the dining room is the center of the house and makes it a special space. On the exterior the wide roof overhangs and trim details give the house nice character. Peter has provided dozens of tours of the house to local county officials, Passive House people, students and the general public in an effort to promote energy efficient and resilient construction.

We did an addition on an existing older house to get a larger dining room, a garage, study and sunroom. We were very pleased with how well this architect listened to what WE wanted. He asked good questions and was able to make constructive suggestions, showing us on his computer what three possible iterations were that sounded like what we might want. That made it pretty easy to choose from the options. We ended up excited about the plans he came up with, and now very happy with the result. It cost a bit more than we initially wanted to spend, but we made those choices because we were so pleased with what we were getting.