Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments

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78 Sustainable Environments

Steven Holl Architects

in collaboration with Solange Fabiao,

Little Tesseract House,

Upstate New York, United States

 e house brings together spatial and func-

tional experiments: It examines the proto-

type of a solar stack wall for nonmechanical

climate conditioning within a warped form

that interprets the fourth-dimensional un-

derstanding of a cube.  e dark stucco cube

with extruded steel windows adds dining,

sleeping, and studio spaces to an older build-

ing, from which it obtains its basic power and

utilities.  e cube connects to the existing

stone house by an exoskeletal steel frame, a

space that functions as a dining porch and

contains the stair to the second-fl oor studio.

Right  e glass stack wall is oriented toward

the south to take advantage of winter solar gain.

 e existing building is actually quite low and

therefore does not block the angle of the sun.

North winds are defl ected by the prowlike edge

of the opposite side of the house. In addition,

roof-mounted photovoltaic cells back up the

system during power outages.

79

Environmental Interface

Above Pivoting windows and doors open the

L-shaped dining porch to the outdoors dur-

ing the summer to admit light and ventilation

to the addition. In winter, a Danish wood

stove helps heat this cooler space.  e porch

also mediates the two sections—distinct in

form and material—of the home.

80 Sustainable Environments

Above  e interior of the residence is very

open, particularly the second fl oor, and the

solar stack wall is visible through the house.

Made of German structural channel glass,

the stack wall represents the fi rm’s initial

application of the material for heating and

cooling.  e hollow plenum, used for passive

solar gain in winter and cooling via the stack

eff ect in summer, spans two stories on the ex-

terior and becomes translucent fenestration

for the rooms inside.