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Ryan Abendroth



Ryan Abendroth is a senior lecturer in the Sam Fox School, where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses and design studios focused on the impacts of climate, site, energy, detailing, and building information modeling (BIM) on the built environment. Previously he taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, as both a visiting lecturer and critic, and has acted as a passive house consultant for Kansas University’s 5th year design-build program, Studio 804.

Abendroth is an experienced Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC®) and the former certification manager at Passive House Institute US (PHIUS). He has worked on hundreds of passive house projects including small residential designs and student projects to mid-sized commercial and nonprofit developments, and he has been at the forefront of research and design in passive houses for almost a decade. His first passive house experience was with Team Illinois in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Competition in 2009, where the team took second place overall. Abendroth is a member of the PHIUS Technical Committee and a trainer for the PHIUS CPHC Program.

Abendroth also serves as the principal of Passive Energy Designs LLC, a St. Louis-based consulting firm specializing in achieving built high-performance and low-energy buildings that meet the passive house standard. He holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


Work by Ryan Abendroth

Single-story gabled house with white vertical siding panels and a solar panel roof, surrounded by wooden tiered garden boxes.

Gable Home, 2009

University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign, Team Illinois, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009, South Facade, Photo: University of Illinois@ Urbana-Champaign Solar Decathlon Team 2009.
Front view of single-story gabled house with vertical white slatted siding and tall garden boxes surrounding.

Gable Home, 2009

University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign, Team Illinois, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009, West Facade, Photo: University of Illinois@ Urbana-Champaign Solar Decathlon Team 2009.
Cave-like house structure sitting in a field consisting of two conjoined oval pods. One wall is cut away to full-size windows. The house is surrounded by a wooden deck with red patio furniture.

Techstyle Haus, 2014

Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and Fachhochschule Erfurt, Solar Decathlon Europe 2014, South Facade, Photo: Julia Hasse 2015.
Interior of a house with curving, cavelike white walls and roof, bright wood floors and partitions, and modern beige furnishings.

Techstyle Haus, 2014

Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and Fachhochschule Erfurt, Solar Decathlon Europe 2014, Interior and Mechanical Core, Photo: Julia Hasse 2015.
Boxy concrete single-story house with four projecting buttresses that serve as vertical gardens. The house is set on a very large deck filled with rows of garden boxes.

Crete House, 2017

Washington University in St. Louis, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, South Facade, Photo: Washington University in St. Louis Solar Decathlon Team 2017.
Interior of a house with concrete floors, walls, and ceiling with several full-height windows and furnished with neutral-toned modern furnishings.

Crete House, 2017

Washington University in St. Louis, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, Interior, Photo: Dennis Schroeder, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017.