Bird Island Green Homes was a competition launched by
leading Malaysian developer YTL to develop zero-energy single houses inside a
large park.
While the overall ecological footprint of such an endevour
is flawed per se, it was an opportunity to rethink the boundary conditions
between inside and outside in a climate that is all year round hot, humid and
uncomfortable.
Through intensive sessions with environmental experts at
Arup, we decided that the attractive low-tech solution of cross ventilation,
high spaces and permeable architecture would be unrealistic, as the proprietor
of such a villa would simply stick in an airconditioning unit to sleep soundly
at night at least.
Hence for the two sites we developed two distinct machinic
buildings that have been intrinsically shaped by the extensive employment of
photovoltaics and insulating the interior well from the hot and humid air
outside.
The proposal for site 03 shown here uses its relatively
square site to develop as a centralist cube that is shielded by a C-shaped
bracket of shading elements and photovoltaic panels. The roofscape beneath is
sculpted to collect rainwater into two concrete cones where it is filtered,
stored and distributed for various uses in the house.
The circulation wraps around those two volumes and claims
the space in between as a meditative space that constantly changes with the
path of the sun flickering through the PV roof. The spiralling system of
internal ramps find their continuity in the landscape that is shaped to provide
access from underneath the cube. All living areas are contained by one open
L-shaped space, while the bedrooms and bathrooms are complementing with another
L to form the complete ring.
When moving between these, the user transgresses a climatic
threshold as the corridor access to the bed and bathroom as well as to the roof
is already in the outside.
The external façade continues the subtle sectional lines of
the topography and the roof edge as two more undulating lines that limit the
use of glass and hence provide additional insulation and thermal mass.
Though at first the project appears to be in the tradition
of the classical Miesean approach as a seemingly universal glass house, specific
response to the sun path, climatic demands, shading and the engagement with the
ground are all turning this into a contemporary responsive, contextual and
sculptural experience.
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