This Partnership will advance education, equity, professional development, and high-performance building practice across the architecture, design, and construction professions.

NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and The Passive House Network (PHN) are pleased to announce the formalization of a partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding designed to advance education, equity, professional development, and high-performance building practice across the architecture, design, and construction professions. This MOU establishes a shared framework for collaboration between NOMA and PHN, aligning both organizations around a common commitment: expanding access to climate-responsive design knowledge while elevating the leadership, expertise, and lived experience of minority architects, designers, educators, students, and allied professionals.

At its core, the partnership recognizes that high-performance building knowledge must be more accessible, more inclusive, and more connected to the communities most affected by climate, housing, energy, and infrastructure inequities. Passive House principles offer critical tools for reducing energy demand, improving building performance, supporting healthier indoor environments, and advancing climate resilience. Through this partnership, NOMA and PHN will work together to ensure these tools are not confined to narrow professional circles, but are shared through pathways that support representation, leadership, and long-term professional opportunity.

The MOU will serve as the guiding structure for all actionable steps moving forward. Program development, educational offerings, member engagement, communications, leadership coordination, and evaluation will be shaped through this shared agreement. Rather than operating as isolated initiatives, each activity will be connected to the broader goals of the partnership and assessed for its value to both organizations and their members.

During the first year of implementation, NOMA and PHN will identify and develop opportunities for collaborative programming that may include technical seminars, chapter-based learning sessions, introductory Passive House education pathways, practice-focused webinars, case-study presentations, and future exploration of fellowship or credentialing opportunities. These initiatives will be designed to connect Passive House principles with real-world practice, procurement, community impact, professional development, and equity-centered design leadership.

A central priority of the partnership is shared leadership. NOMA practitioners, educators, students, and chapter leaders will not be positioned merely as participants, but as contributors, presenters, moderators, case-study leaders, advisors, and co-creators. PHN educators, technical experts, and members will contribute building-performance knowledge, curriculum support, technical insight, and professional resources. This structure reflects the mutual value of the partnership and affirms that meaningful collaboration requires shared authorship, shared visibility, and shared accountability.

The partnership also supports NOMA's broader mission to advance education, elevation, empowerment, and equity within the profession. By connecting NOMA members and chapters with Passive House education and high-performance design expertise, the collaboration creates pathways for expanded technical fluency, professional advancement, and leadership in climate-responsive practice. At the same time, PHN strengthens its commitment to equity by working in partnership with NOMA to broaden access, deepen representation, and support a more inclusive Passive House movement.

The first year will establish a foundation for implementation, learning, and refinement. Both organizations will use this period to assess member value, program quality, operational feasibility, financial sustainability, and long-term alignment. This process is not simply exploratory; it is a deliberate implementation phase grounded in the MOU and designed to help determine how the partnership can grow responsibly, sustainably, and with measurable impact.

Together, NOMA and PHN aim to support a built environment where high-performance design is not treated as a luxury or specialty knowledge reserved for a few, but as a critical part of equitable, resilient, and responsible practice. Through this partnership, both organizations affirm their shared commitment to expanding access, elevating underrepresented leadership, and advancing climate-responsive design in service of the communities' architects, engineers, and designers are called to serve.

Additional details on programming, engagement opportunities, and implementation milestones will be shared as the partnership moves forward.

For more information on The Passive House Network, visit https://passivehousenetwork.org/ or email kim@passivehousenetwork.org.

About PHN:

The Passive House Network (PHN) is a 501(c) (3) organization that provides Passive House high-performance building education and resources to professionals across the U.S., transforming how they think about and work with buildings. PHN provides professionals with a comprehensive skill set to reliably deliver new and renovated buildings that use dramatically less energy, enabling effective, affordable climate action.

About Passive House:

Passive House is an international building standard and methodology, applicable to buildings of all kinds, from office buildings to hospitals, new-build and renovations, that results in a dramatic drop in operational energy use, and more comfortable and healthy occupants, meant to aggressively mitigate our climate crisis while providing resilient adaptation.

The Passive House Standard was developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI), an independent scientific research organization based in Darmstadt, Germany, and includes specific requirements for energy use and occupant comfort. The Passive House Standard is being successfully applied to thousands of buildings and millions of square feet worldwide, from Boston to Beijing.

The Passive House methodology starts with reducing cooling, dehumidification, and heating loads by focusing, not on gadgets and active technology, but instead on fully integrated durable passive building components, such as proper continuous thermal-bridge-free insulation, continuous airtightness, high-performance windows and doors, and ventilation that includes a high-efficiency heat/energy recovery core, carefully calculated, and all integrated with the entire architectural process of design and construction. http://www.passivehouse.com http://www.passipedia.org

About NOMA:

NOMA, which thrives only when voluntary members contribute their time and resources, has as its mission the building of a strong national organization, strong chapters and strong members for the purpose of minimizing the effect of racism in our profession.

Strength in NOMA is built through unity in the cause that created the organization. Our impact is felt when our organization wrestles with the dilemmas that face this nation, particularly as they affect our profession. There is strength in numbers. By increasing the number of people in this organization, we add strength to the voice with which we can speak against apathy, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance; against abuse of the natural environment; and for the un-empowered, the marginalized and the disenfranchised.

By building a strong organization, we develop a showcase for the excellence and creativity which have been ignored for so long. Through our publications and conferences, we are able to inform the world that minority professionals have the talent and capabilities to perform in design and construction with any other group.

Media Contact

Kim Ravold, The Passive House Network, 1 6094101308, kim@passivehousenetwork.org, https://passivehousenetwork.org/

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SOURCE The Passive House Network