Passive Elements

The Brookwater home was designed to be flooded with natural light and ventilation with a large focus on the passive elements of the beautiful site and its form. It is easy to under estimate the energy that can be harvested from the dramatic topography. This house was designed to capture it completely.
A pool was created to play a major part in the passive ventilation of the home. Louvre window banks are situated directly above the pool, so that when the wind sweeps up the slope it is cooled by the pool's surface and then coaxed into the house through the louvres, effectively working as a natural form of air conditioning .

Even the stairway has been designed to help with temperature control - its walls are made from polycarbonate sandwich sheeting which attracts the winter sun. Thus, the heat drawn in from the protruding stairwell warms the air, rising chimney-like to the ceiling and then down through the home. A vent has also been placed in the roof of the stairwell, so that in summer the hot air can easily escape and cool breezes encouraged through the home.

Sustainability: "It just makes good sense"