The Smart House is a south facing bungalow embedded into the ground. It demonstrates a passive solar design, providing a warm comfortable home all year round whilst using almost zero energy. It has photovoltaic and solar thermal panels producing renewable energy and hot water on site and a grass roof to attract bio diversity.
The holistic design uses a sustainable approach from the outset, rather than simply adding on renewable energy as an afterthought. This illustrates that sustainable architecture has to begin with a thoughtful understanding of environmental techniques. In principle, the scheme could be constructed as a modular system that is designed to be fairly accessible to most people.
Features
+ passive solar design
+ thermal mass
+ super insulation
+ photovoltaic panels
+ solar thermal
+ under floor heating
+ passive ventilation
+ green roof
+ rainwater harvesting
Further information
Architect's website: Alan Phillips Architects
Architects report Part 1 (very large file - 5Mb)
Artchitects report Part 2 (appendices: very large file - 2Mb)
Artchitects report Part 3 (appendices: very large file - 4Mb)