Isolée closes for approaching storms (Click Image To Enlarge)
ISOLÉE, A CONCEPT FOR A SELF-SUFFICIENT RETREAT, AIMS TO APPLY "PRODUCT DESIGN ETHOS" TO ARCHITECTURE.
Dutch architect Frank Tjepkema is annoyed with the crudeness of the average house. He tells FRAME magazine.
“The cars we drive, the computers and tablets we use, the smartphones--all sophisticated, aesthetically sound objects. And then we go home, where we’re surrounded by a stack of bricks."
His gripe is legitimate: Why is commercial architecture so far behind, say, the automotive industry in terms of adopting technological innovations?
Or opens according to the user’s wishes (Click Image To Enlarge)
This home designed to have as little impact as possible on the environment, literally, touches down in four small points (Click Image To Enlarge)
Designed by Dutch architecture firm Tjep, the house has two walls of wooden louvres that fold out (Click Image To Enlarge)
There are plenty of answers to that question, but Tjepkema isn’t having any of them. Instead, he and his design team at Tjep went ahead and got to work on a retreat home called Isolée that leverages a number of intelligent systems, which they hope to develop into a working prototype. Writes the architect, who describes the three-story building as a cabinet, which touches the ground at four small points of contact.
“The approach to Isolée was the same as designing a piece of furniture.”
A 'tree' of five circular photovoltaic panels rotate to find the best direct sunlight (Click Image To Enlarge)
The motor-controlled hinges are connected to a computer that lets the owner decide when they’re open or closed (Click Image To Enlarge)
Isolée contains a system of LED lights and solar panels that make it self-sufficient (Click Image To Enlarge)
What makes Isolée so different than, say, a cabin in the woods? First of all, there are the tree-like spindles of photovoltaic panels that sprout from its roof, supplying enough energy to recharge the batteries in the home’s LED lights. Two sides of the building envelope are clad in hinged slats of wood, which can be opened or closed depending on the weather. The designers say.
“The shutters are computer controlled to follow the wishes of the inhabitants, and close automatically when a storm approaches.”
Both the rotating PVC panels and the shutters are powered by motors, powered by the sun. Water and heat aren’t accounted for, though--the designers imagine a nearby well where water can be drawn.
The only thing it doesn’t have is running water--the architects imagine a nearby well (Click Image To Enlarge)
Cross-bracing against lateral forces is visible in this shot (Click Image To Enlarge)
There are a few possible stumbles here, when it comes to energy efficiency and structural stability. The four points of contact would, potentially, make the home structurally unsound (a structure this tall necessitates a foundation). There isn’t a clear rationale for putting the PVC panels on rotating "branches," when an equal amount of energy could be gleaned from laying off-the-shelf panels flat on the roof. Which isn’t to say that Isolée isn’t a smart (or good-looking) idea. Rather, Tjepkema has answered his own question about why architecture hasn’t kept pace with phones or cars. Unlike prototyping a new car or phone, building an inhabitable structure is expensive and slow. Experiments like this can become very expensive gambles, which many architects and clients aren’t willing to take. Tjep deserves kudos for imagining the future--now, they need to figure out how to test it.
Check out more about Isolée HERE.
COMMENTARY: Architect Frank Tjepkema and his design team at Tjep really got me excited and simultaneously spooked out with the design concept for Isolée. The house stands on four legs which is more reminscent of a piece of furniture, rather than a house. Tjepkema has created Isolée with a minimalist design concept, that is simple and elegant.
Tjepkema has gone vertical with Isolée, constructing the home on three levels: living room (first floor), kitchen and dining (second floor) and bedroom and bathroom (third floor). Going up three flights of stairs is probably its only glaring disadvantage.
The green technology incorporated into the Isolée and enveloping the house in hinged slats of wood, which can be opened or closed depending on the weather, give the house an architectural and technological uniqueness which I have never seen before. You can open individual louvres on the hinged slats to create windows anywhere around the house.
The idea of "opening up" the house to its surrounding environment, is the closest thng to actually living in the outdoors. Exposing yourself to that environment complete with the sun, air, bugs, and scents of that environment brings one closer to nature. You are one with nature. I say bring those bugs in. Invite them for dinner. Let them swim in your soup. LOL. I can hardly wait for the finished full-size prototype when it is finally built.
Courtesy of an article dated March 7, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design
Excellent engineering. What impress's me much is the use of solar panel. Really effective during summer. I wonder if we can use any form of renewable energy to be used in our house.
Posted by: Jason Light | 03/17/2013 at 08:47 PM