Introduction to Passive House Design

CPD Central offers the most comprehensive array of Built Environment workshops and courses in Southern Africa. Our multidisciplinary team has the skills, resources, understanding and experience to serve all trained professionals requiring professional points.

Co Govers is a well-known architect and a recognized expert and speaker on restoration and sustainability in architecture. She graduated with a Masters degree in Architecture from the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands. After graduating she worked for architects such as Max van Aerschot in the Netherlands (ING building, MTV head quarters) and the Barcelonese master José Lluis Mateo (Banc Sabadell, Filmoteca). In 2009 she established her studio ZEST architecture in Barcelona. Co specialized in sustainability long before it became a buzz word, and developed a signature style that combines sustainability and bioclimatic design with elegance, using natural materials in a new way. Her extensive experience includes the design and restoration of many historical properties including listed buildings and the design and construction of new sustainable homes. She also designed the Ray of Light mosque for Dubai, which, in spite of never being built, went on to become one of the most iconic examples of modern mosque design in the Muslim world. Since 2020 she is also a certified Passivhaus designer, and with her team developed the Z1 and Z2 series of prefabricated passive houses that are suitable for accidented terrains. Although her studio is small, Co is building projects in Amsterdam, Mallorca, Portugal and over Spain. She is technical reviewer for the tri-annual Al Fozan awards for modern mosque design.