ABSTRACT
The importance of describing the environmental requirements is needed to contextualise the design. The natural energy source came exclusively from sunlight and this became one of the principle influences in the design, both technically and symbolically. The house was situated on the edge of a disused quarry; the building was south-facing and organised around a semi-circular plan to allow the south façade to receive as much light as possible. The principal south-facing space was the living area, which rose through a double-height volume to accommodate a studio gallery. At the rear of this double-height volume was the ‘trompe wall’, absorbing and subsequently redistributing the heat; the south façade was predominantly constructed of glass to allow maximum light absorption.
