Eco-Housing
Harvard Graduate School of Design Architecture Studio (Prof. T. Schropfer)
Location: Brookline, Massachusetts
Program: Multi-family Housing
Strategy: The use of passive solar and wind strategies guides the development of this multiple housing-type community. The site is organized in plan and section by a tessellating pattern whose oblique angle is derived from a solar orientation study. Pitching the roofs at this particular angle maximizes the solar heat gain in winter, while creating a profile that functions as a wind scoop for passive-cooling ventilation, as well as minimizing the shadow cast on neighboring houses. After all, maximizing solar heat gain in the winter can really only be called sustainable if you're not stealing it from the guy next door.
In plan, the tessellating pattern provided a system that produced more adjacencies and access points than a simple grid. Was it an intellectual conceit for the angles in the plan to match the solar-powered angles in the section? Probably, yes, it was. In this case it actually produced a more efficient and robust plan. That it was a more beautiful and unified solution was simply an added grace-note.
