Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments

68 Sustainable Environments

Above and Right  e split form preserves

the site’s existing trees, whose greenery en-

hances the more dramatic landscape beyond.

 e plan organizes the house into public and

private zones and allows for only one wing

to be used when fewer residents occupy the

home, thus saving energy.

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Above and Left  e construction materi-

als follow the long-established practice in

China of mu tu, or earth and wood buildings.

Inside, the structure of the house consists

of laminated wood.  e wood elements of

fenestration, staircase, and exposed framing

give the interior a warmth and tactility that

contrasts with the stone fl oors that seem to

be a continuation of the mountainous terrain

outside.

Bioregionalism

70 Sustainable Environments

Above  e design was developed as a proto-

type for several other homes to be built in the

vicinity.  e plan adjusts to the hilly topog-

raphy in the valley neighborhood by altering

the angle between the two wings to create

a number of diff erent confi gurations, from

parallel wings to an inversion of this form.

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Bioregionalism

72 Sustainable Environments

Grose Bradley Architects,

Kropach/Catlow Farmhouse,

Myocum, Australia

 e residence employs the vernacular

language of an Australian farm building, the

lean-to shed, creating a spare and practical

design for the sunny, arid climate.  e farm

shed’s utilitarian materials—steel-frame

structure, corrugated-metal shed roof—are

combined with simple shading devices and a

straightforward layout to open up the house

to the environment but provide shelter from

the elements. Fixed anodized aluminum

sunscreens at the top of the steel frame run

along the length of the house and are lowered

at the kitchen bays to shade its horizontal

band of windows. Rainwater is collected

(another common practice in this climate)

and channeled directly from the gutter at the

lower end of the shed roof into a corrugated

metal storage tank behind the home.

Right  e house’s metal frame is fi tted with

operable glass louvers adjacent to the fi xed

glass planes to control ventilation. Exterior

roller shades installed at all the large glazed

bays double as insect screens.  ese shades

move along guides to fasten at the base of the

steel armature protruding beyond the north

façade. A total of three diff erent forms of lou-

vered surfaces, from transparent to opaque,

are incorporated throughout the house for

cross ventilation and shading.

blind/insect screen

structural steel column

aluminum cover angle

152 mm (6”) adjustable glass louvers

152 mm (6”) adjustable glass louvers

backing rod & sealant

tongue-and-groove hardwood fl ooring

timber packing

Colorbond zincalume metal

crush and fold fl ashing

structural steel column

hardwood timber joists

FFL R.L. 95 m (311.7')