Clouds Architecture Office developed a concept for a small one bedroom, two-story house that can be applied worldwide at an affordable design cost. The idea is to offer a well designed small house buildable anywhere in the world on a variety of sites. When designing a house, we start by researching the specific conditions of a site: sun exposure, climate, topography and potential views. Spending time at a site allows us to uncover qualities that may otherwise not be apparent. In this case we had to adjust our design methodology to allow for a universal site anywhere on the globe. How can we design to conform to any place? Is there a form that allows for the most flexibility? We tried various shapes and configurations and settled on the globe: a circle in plan, it can be rotated any amount to position openings towards the best orientation for a given site, while maintaining the same basic circular footprint on the lot.
The orb is structurally strong: forces are resolved equally along its surface without load concentrations. Geometrically the orb allows for a maximum interior volume within a minimum surface area. The interior will also feel larger because of the seamless curved surface. The curved exterior shell is adaptable to most any climate, shedding rain and snow efficiently.
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