Steel door adapted for passive house certification

The Trio-E series, offered by Americas Door Group brands Ceco, Curries and Fleming, is an energy-efficient steel door that is certified by the Passive House Institute of the US (PHIUS). While based on the previous version of the product, the Trio series, it is enhanced to meet the PHIUS requirements, and the Trio-E series is the only steel-stiffened door with this certification.

The door is designed with extra strength and durability, giving it extreme weather resilience, including against hurricane force wind and debris.

Established by the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996, passive house was one of the pioneering concepts for building low-energy houses and is now a leading building standard. The design is focused on making the best use of the “passive” influences in a building – like sunshine, shading, insulation and ventilation – rather than active heating and cooling systems such as air conditioning and central heating.

Passive house homes and buildings offer superior comfort due to consistent temperatures and good air quality. With residential and commercial buildings accounting for 40 percent of the United States’ energy consumption, the demand for passive house-certified buildings is increasing, and the need for products to help achieve those certifications is critical.

“We’re starting to get more requests for passive house projects,” says Amy Musanti, Director, Sustainable Building Solutions, ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions. “A lot of cities have introduced regulations that require new multi-family buildings to follow passive house guidelines, and there aren’t any other US door manufacturers with a solution that has been certified by PHIUS.”

ASSA ABLOY team at Asberry Farms construction site

For example, Trio-E has been chosen for the Asberry, a five-story, mixed-use building of affordable rental housing for seniors, along with around 460 square meters of commercial space. The Asberry is part of the Barry Farm housing project in Washington D.C., a major redevelopment which prioritizes resilient and passive house building design.