Relational materialism in passive house designs – mundane work and tinkering in Vallastaden’s low energy buildings

Sweden’s new showcase mixed-use neighbourhood of Vallastaden has been designed for social and environmental sustainability, with a specific focus on citizens’ active involvement in the early phases of the planning process, and the built environment has been designed to encourage social interaction between residents. One aspect of the Vallastaden concept is low energy buildings and passive house designs. All buildings are designed to be 25% more energy efficient than the requirements of the Swedish Building Code, and 12 residential buildings have been designed as passive houses. This research project focuses on the planning, construction and management processes, and on the everyday lives of the passive houses’ residents. The paper reports on the initial research conducted with a qualitative approach, including interviews with residents and stakeholders and diaries maintained by residents. Relational materialism is our theoretical approach for analysing empirical material and guiding our understanding of the sociomaterial as being intertwined in assemblages and how different elements and entities are enacted in everyday life for low energy thermal comfort in passive houses. Our conclusion is that building design and energy system design varies between the different buildings. There are many different passive houses in Vallastaden, which come in different shapes and with multiple relationships between the social and the material. Both residents and professional groups need to work to achieve the desired levels of thermal comfort, and this work includes what seems to be endless tinkering with the different parts of the energy system and buildings. Eventually, different practices become established for mundane management of thermal comfort.