Ilka Cassidy
Username
Ilka Cassidy
Proposer First Name
Ilka
Proposer Email
ilka@holzraumsystem.com
Proposer Last Name
Cassidy
Boston 2021 Areas of Focus
Proposer Company/Organization
Holzraum System LLC
Proposer Phone
(267) 879-9991
Proposer Job Title
Co-Founder
Proposer Additional Info
Ilka Cassidy, CPHC, co-founder of Holzraum System, is passionate about Passive House envelope design and building science, focusing on the benefits of natural building materials. She grew up in Germany and received her Diploma of Engineering/Architecture degree from the RWTH Aachen. Ilka connected to the U.S. during her year at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she won a scholarship to study with the graduate program. Eventually, she moved to Philadelphia and co-founded C2 Architecture in 2005. She has worked on multiple projects as a Certified Passive House Consultant and is an active member of Philadelphia’s Green Building United.
Proposed Session Description
The typical picture of prefabrication – a panel being positioned by crane – belies the tremendous amount of required planning and interdisciplinary coordination. Single Integrated Manufacturing Modeling (SIMM) and off-site prefabrication work together as the glue that binds this collaboration. Where many educational programs focus on the rapid installation and production benefits of prefabrication, this session emphasizes the coordinated up-front approach. This innovative approach capitalizes on production methods to support collaboration and clash detection while enabling the most complex architectural designs and geometries. Two very different Certified Passive House projects will illustrate the journey. The projects, different dramatically in scope and aesthetics – traditional vs. modern – demonstrate the ease with which the approach can be transferred. Project architects and construction teammates will share how prefabrication and SIMM enable stakeholder voices to be heard, minimize risk, and support high-performance building, making low-carbon and Passive House results accessible to any owner, builder, or architect.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Our presentation team includes 50% gender diversity. Lead presenter Ilka Cassidy offers an international perspective on Passive House; she grew up and was educated in Germany, informing her interest in and early exposure to sustainable design and shaping her current perspective as a Certified Passive House Consultant leading teams to new approaches to design and construction. By emphasizing prefabrication, our approach opens the construction field to more diversity, while also supporting safer, more environmentally responsible, and flexible work methods.
Learning Objectives
Identify what separates SIMM from typical REVIT or other BIM models, and how parts-based modeling leads to improved accuracy, efficiency, and sustainability.
Learn transferable experiential knowledge of how SIMM and interdisciplinary coordination can solve project-specific problems, resolve complex geometries, and lead to low-carbon Passive House results regardless of project type, including complex Passive House window and control layer details and how to optimize low-carbon decision-making during design.
Recognize typical communication and coordination gaps created through siloed workflows and seek methods to merge design with manufacturing accuracy in order to improve their own design and build processes.
Learn why and how you might use advanced modeling and prefabrication, what the combination adds to a project, and how it supports an accessible streamlined path to Passive House goals and other high-performance, low-carbon buildings.
Has this session been presented before?
No
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format Details
To best illustrate our approach to modeling, off-site prefabrication, and collaborative project execution, our team envisions a multi-part session during which we present a 10-minute introduction with slides and an animated model of our SIMM approach. This will be followed by two 20-minute case studies shared by the two project architects. The session will continue with a panel discussion that includes all presenters plus one of the project builders to answer audience member questions and provide depth of content shared during the intro and case studies.
Recommended Length
90-minute session
Comments about your speaker roster
Ilka and Steve are frequent presenters on the topics of high-performance and carbon smart construction, interdisciplinary collaboration, off-site manufacturing, and new approaches to Passive House design. We are happy to provide a list of recent presentations if necessary.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
N/a
Reviewer 1
Heath, Anna
Reviewer 2
Li, Arlen
Curator
Lo, Richard
Proposal #
191
Session #
712
Committee Decision
Accepted
Presenters
Full Description
This session illustrates an accessible path to Passive House design and construction – even for those builders, architects, and clients who have interest but have not yet invested the time or education to undertake a Passive House project independently. The session emphasizes the importance, ease, and ultimate efficiency of true interdisciplinary collaboration through SIMM and prefabrication. It will show attendees how predictability through virtually building before construction can provide true clash detection, identify and eliminate risks and site delays, and improve design and sustainability goals.