Wasserhaus

http://www.brightspacearchitects.com/project/the-wasserhaus

Wasserhaus is a pasive house design that integrates sustainable living within a lifestyle that will actively change the way you live through innovative design.

The Design
Sun, water and air are crucial to our survival, the Wasserhaus is designed as a response to this, both the form and operation of the house are derived from harnessing and using these elements.

A compact design that references and expands on the form of a traditional house, the Wasserhaus extends the south facing roofplane to capture water and sunlight encouraging life to prosper on its surface, the extension of the roof plane becomes a valuable amenity for the occupants, a place of leisure and a place of production enabling the growth of plants and food in terraced steps.

Rain water is absorbed by the living roof and terraces. Water percolates through the terraces feeding the plants and vegetables, any excess is collected and diverted to a living machine waste treatment system. This process means that no rainwater runs off the building onto the surrounding land, it is all used naturally on the living roof or collected for use in the house.

The Lifestyle
The Wasserhaus connects the home to nature. Over time the living terrace becomes an established resource and recreation space. Beneath the roof and terraces a modern and flexible home can thrive and adapt to meet the changing needs of its occupants. A sustainable and low impact lifestyle begins in each individual house and on each terraced roofscape. This grows and expands into a wider community approach, attempting to achieve a “passive place” ethic, reducing and eliminating the import of energy and resources, and reducing the impact waste products have on the natural environment .

The Environment
The environmental philosophy developed for the design of the Wasserhaus centres around the idea of happiness wellbeing and the enjoyment of life. To sustain LIFE in the world we need thermal energy from the SUN to drive AIR and WATER circulation patterns.

The Wasserhaus design harnesses these key elements to improve the lives of its occupants. The building form has been developed to capture electromagnetic radiation from the sun to grow plants and produce electrical energy.

The buildings fenestration enables adaptation to the seasonal changes in the local microclimate, using the summer time prevailing winds and pressure difference to promote cross ventilation. This avoids the need for mechanical cooling and improving the occupant’s connection to the landscape. In winter the buildings thermal envelope promotes minimal heating requirements supported by a ground source heat pump.