The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House

DISCOVER THE 2020 HOUSE

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House near Angers (France) is in advance on the provisions of France’s 2020 Thermal Regulations. It is the reflection of Saint-Gobain’s strategic commitment to become THE worldwide reference for sustainable habitat.

About 15 Group brands worked on its construction. Together, they demonstrated that it is possible today to achieve a high level of performance using innovative solutions that are easy to implement and readily available on the market.

This low energy consumption and positive energy house was a response to a real life project: the choice of a family to build a separate dwelling in a housing estate that would comply with actual comfort appearance, and environmental and health quality requirements. 

Three-way meeting 

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House is the result of a three-way meeting between:

• an eco-responsible family with a life project
• an architect, Laure Levanneur, determined to take up the sustainable building challenge 
• and a Group, Saint-Gobain, eager to implement its ideas of 2020 housing, and bringing about 15 of of its brands into the equation. 

It was this convergence of interests that resulted in 2011 in the Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House.

Designed as a healthy, comfortable and pleasant living space, the Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House ensures its occupants’ well-being while at the same time complying with thermal, visual, health and acoustic requirements. 

Modular, the house is designed to be accessible. It will adapt to its occupants’ life changes to ensure the best possible usage comfort and access at all ages. 

With a surface area of 162 square meters, it is the result of a successful compromise between energy performance and aesthetic appearance.

162 m² of Saint-Gobain expertise 

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House combines the expertise of about 15 Group brands. It meets three main objectives:

• Maximize a building’s energy performance: The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House delivers a high level of energy performance thanks to its highly efficient thermal insulation for optimum year-round comfort, its bioclimatic architectural design and maximum use of the sun’s warmth and light. 
• Promote Saint-Gobain as an eco-responsible company: The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House is environmentally friendly. The materials were selected for their low environmental impact throughout the building’s entire life cycle (lowest energy consumption for production and transportation, and management of construction site waste).
• Emphasize personal dignity in housing: The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House has been designed to adapt to its occupant’s life cycle changes (lifestyles and mobility), and to protect their health thanks to its exemplary interior air quality.

The house of every comfort 

THERMAL COMFORT: OPTIMIZING THERMAL COMFORT 

The perception of comfort varies from one person to another and his or her ability to adapt to changes in scientific parameters linked to that perception: temperature, sources of radiation, humidity, and rate of air renewal. 

The magic of an earth-air heat exchanger 

An EAHX is a set of buried pipes. It acts as an earth-air heat exchanger for heating or cooling the air in buildings as it is renewed. 

This exchanger uses the temperature difference between the air outside the building and the temperature of the soil. It cools new air in summer and pre-heats it in winter. The operating principle of an EAHX is based on the free harnessing of geothermal power1.

An EAHX acts as a natural temperature regulator. As a result, it reduces energy consumption for heating and cooling. 

Maximizing solar gain and light 

CLIMAPLUS glazing with sgg COOL-LITE XTREME 60/28 BIOCLEAN from Saint-Gobain Glass and Glassolutions reflects the sun’s rays. 

Used in the atrium, it ensures thermal comfort in summer. 

It reduces the need for air conditioning and so the overall energy bill.

HEALTH COMFORT: IMPROVING INTERIOR AIR QUALITY 

Given the impact of buildings on health, Saint-Gobain carried out an in-depth analysis of the concentration of pollutants in the air inside the Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House. These readings were analyzed in partnership with the ISSBA (Higher Institute for Health and Bio-products) in Angers (France).

The pre-requisites for good quality interior air are: 

• Limit pollution emissions at the source by selecting building materials and furnishings with low emission levels or which actively reduce them.
• The use of low-emission or active materials (Adfors’ Novelio^® paintable wall coverings, Placo^® Activ’ Air^® plasterboard technology and ISOVER G3 mineral wool insulation) helped prevent pollution emissions at the source.
• The use of mineral wall paints free of organic solvents and furniture made from untreated wood and free from glue and varnish, was also part of this approach.
• Remove pollutants using suitable ventilation while maintaining airtightness. 
• The Elixair earth-air heat exchanger uses dual-flow controlled mechanical ventilation for optimum interior air renewal. 

VISUAL COMFORT: ENSURE VISUAL COMFORT 

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House maximizes the use of solar gain and natural light by orienting the house as best possible. 

The building’s external envelope also contributes to the visual comfort. An aesthetic appearance and light contribute to creating a harmonious living environment. 

MODULAR COMFORT AND SAFETY: FACILITATE ACCESSIBILITY, SAFETY AND MODULARITY 

Our lifestyles change. A house needs to adapt to its occupants’ life cycle. 

With the Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House, you have to imagine a couple who decide to build a home. Initially, they have neither the resources nor the need to see any bigger. Then they buy a car. So, a garage is added using the timber-frame, light and easily implemented construction system. The family grows. Another child. Then, a teenager who wants to move on and have greater independence. The house is enlarged. An extra bedroom is added using the ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system). Then, now a young adult, he or she leaves the family home. As it is easier to access, the aging parents move into the ground floor bedroom.

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House takes into account all access and sight-impaired needs:

• optimum dimensions of all circulation areas
• door widths: 1600 mm for external doors and 900 mm for interior doors 
• motorized door openings with a presence sensor 
• contrasting colors: green splashbacks against taupe work surfaces in the kitchen 
• varied material textures: interior doors in wood veneer, unequal double-leaf door made of wood and glass, door handles made with attractive materials, solid oak parquet 
• strong artificial lighting inside the rooms.

ACOUSTIC COMFORT: CONTROL ACCOUSTICS

Efficient acoustic insulation and correction guarantee acoustic comfort. 

The Saint-Gobain Multi-Comfort House complies with the acoustic regulations in force in France (Circular dated January, 28, 2000) and France’s Qualitel-Habitat Environnement certification standards for single dwellings.