ECO BUILDING: LOW DENSITY HOUSING

INTRODUCTION

When considering what makes an ecological building, it is useful to see its physical incarnation as a snapshot of a larger network of metabolic systems. The materials that compose the final product are the results of not only the raw materials and transformation processes that they undergo, but the assemblage of industrial regimes that produced those materials.

Our project focuses less on shifting the paradigm around the visual appearance of a building, opting instead for a fairly simple massing strategy. Instead, it is the way in which the materials are deployed that create a truly new dimension of design. The building is composed almost entirely of wood, utilizing massive timber CLT panels, glulam columns, and raw timber struts.

DESIGN EVOLUTION

STRUCTURE

ENVELOPE

The envelope of the building creates a uniform exterior surface, performing several functions simultaneously. Structurally, the cantilevered balconies that make up the irregular shape of the facade get supported by the continuous wooden vertical strips. The strips also become thicker in the south facade, and thinner on the north, providing appropriate shade protection from the harsh Barcelona sun. Based on privacy needs, a pattern was generated to provide more or less visibility.

The envelope was generated through a combination of manual assessment and grasshopper assisted design. First, each elevation of the building was placed on a grid with a corresponding number related to the amount of privacy each area needed. A simple scheme of wooden strips was then placed over the undulating facade, and then culled according to the value of privacy.