Good House

Okay, by Western standards this is a shack, but to our eyes it’s a good house because it so clearly connects the needs of its specific inhabitants with the exact spot on which it is set. It does this by skillfully combining the five elements that we think make a building “green”.

(1) Construction impact - It has a low construction impact by using locally harvested materials while minimizing disruption of the building site.

(2) Resource efficient - It requires no energy to create its comfortable interior temperature because it uses shading and natural ventilation to provide cooling in a hot climate.

(3) Long-lasting - It will be relatively long lived because its framing materials are combined in a strong structural configuration. When it made sense, the builders weren’t afraid to replace traditional materials with their modern counterparts to create a more durable result. For example, the metal roof surface will last much longer than one made of palm fronds.

(4) Non-toxic - A combination of organic materials and natural ventilation should create good indoor air quality. Unlike many modern buildings, the slow decay and eventual destruction of the building won’t release toxins or create a pile of trash headed for the dump.

(5) Beautiful - You won't see this hut on the cover of your local real estate circular, nor was it carefully designed to be “green”. The people who built it were simply familiar enough with their environment and clear enough about what they needed to create something that just seems to grow out of the site. The result is simple yet elegant, functional yet playful. If that’s not beautiful, then we don’t know what is.