
The Australian Passive House Association is delighted to announce that after making many stops around the globe, the Ice Box Challenge will next land in Martin Place, Sydney CBD, from 21 February to 4 March, 2022.
What is the Ice Box Challenge?
The Ice Box Challenge is a fun and interactive public installation and contest that demonstrates the advantages of Passive House. Two boxes are filled with an equal amount of ice and displayed for public viewing in Martin Place for a two-week period. One box will be constructed to local building regulations, while the other will meet the international Passive House Standard, a highly energy efficient building performance standard. Each box is filled with an equal amount of ice at the beginning of the experiment and at the end of the fortnight the amount of ice left in each box will be measured, with the level of ice remaining used to demonstrate how well each ice box passively kept out the heat.

What’s on at the event?
Visitors can learn how Passive House offers high level of comfort, can help meet climate protection goals, and make significant energy savings. You can also meet the APHA team and volunteers, check out sponsor booths, and attend opening and closing ceremonies – and enter the contest with your best guess of how much ice will remain in each box at the end of the fortnight. We hope to see you there!
Open Weekdays 8am-5pm & Weekends 10am-2pm | Monday 28th Feb | Tuesday 1st March | Wednesday 2nd March | Thursday 3rd March | Friday 4th March – Closing Ceremony |
APHA Representative | APHA Board Rep, Joe Merceica | APHA Events Manager, Samantha Bruce | APHA Events Manager, Samantha Bruce | APHA CEO, Paul Wall and Events Manager, Samantha Bruce | APHA TEAM |
Sponsors | Eclipse Passive House (8am-12pm) Blue Eco Homes (1pm-5pm) | LAB Design (8am-12pm) GAEA Architects (1pm-5pm) | Reimagined Habitat (8am-5pm) | Passive House Design & Construct (8am-12pm) Passive House People (1pm-5pm) | Eclipse Passive House |
Volunteer | APHA Sydney Chapter, Marie Mattinson (1pm-5pm) | APHA Sydney Chapter, Marie Mattinson (1pm-5pm) | Simon Nelson (8am-12pm) | ||
Side Events | APHA Sydney Member Mixer – Botany NSW (5:30pm-8pm) | “Why to do we need mechanically ventilate our homes?” – Webinar (5pm-6pm) | Closing Ceremony at 12pm to unveil the ice. |
