Adapting house design for Anthropogenic Climate Disruptions in the American Southwest
Primary program thoughts
Create attractive building forms that are partially subterranean for thermal benefits and self-shading on emergent portions.
Consider thermal buffering with location of cool rooms – warm rooms in regard to building shape and orientation.
Employ natural convection and venturi for heat mitigation.
Explore suspended solar arrays as an aesthetic form as well as shade – energy generating device.
Utilize thermal mass to offset night cooling demands.
Provide for extended family and protected food growing areas.
Consider durability and ease of maintenance as part of sustainability.
Evolve the bath environment to support regular cleansing – ritual bathing and water conservation.
General home thoughts
A low furniture line with built-in pieces.
Utilize mass with thickened walls and offsets.
Develop sequential spaces of compression and release.
Cluster elements to contrast with expanses.
Careful placement of glass voids to connect inside and outside.
Use pools of natural light to pull one through the building.
Compose forms with congruent proportions and rich textures.
Create locations to linger – both obvious and unexpected.
Establish strong visual links with easy access to outside areas.
Cultivate curiosity – mystery through slow revelation.
Building exercises
Exploring issues of mass, landform and scale has been fun. Find I am drawn to integrated layered forms that are congruent and understated with simple materials shaping opulent space.
The efforts have also revealed ( to me ) the gestural component of my process and showed how controlled modeling can generate greater understanding than design build experience.
House 3 – has a linear theme building on shapes explored in house 1.
House 4 – explores curved building forms to echo the solar suspension.
House 5 – Considers flood plain adaptions.