No Comments »

Net Zero Energy Cool Bird House Wins Award

• Tweet

• Tweet

Bird Island – a private and gated residential park in the center of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, an eco park that is a gentle home for local and migratory birds has announced the award winners of its Bird Island Green Homes Competition challenge for eight of the world’s top architects to try and create eco-friendly living spaces.

Shown here is  Zoka Zola’s award winning design, a very cool bird – suspended high up on stilts… you can walk down these central steps and walk under the house to get outside.

The Zoka Zola entry is sustainably designed in 6 ways for the tropics:

1. The house is net zero-energy by placing photovoltaic panels on 92% of the roof surface.
2. Large solar powered fans extract heat from every room and increase air circulation, while the hot air is vented through the double layered roof.
3. The building is split into 7 independent zones, that can be individually controlled and can either be naturally ventilated or, using the solar power; air conditioned or fan cooled.
4. The footprint of the building is kept small, and it is raised off the ground on 12 columns to allow other species to develop around it.
5. Rainwater is collected and used for greywater supply and irrigation.
6. The design of the house responds to the local wind-patterns and catches the breezes with its concave and convex walls, letting the air move between the louvers that provide effective shade throughout the day.

Zoka Zola, the architect for this project writes:

“I am another architect doing a project for Bird Island I thought you and your readers would enjoy to see an alternative design for a zero energy house in this tropical climate.

This design reflects how I see what the island needs: a literally integrated building to the island ecosystem, and a new strategy of how to achieve and harness natural ventilation (the main mode of passive cooling in tropical climate).

Images from Zoka Zola
Via Lucille Chu at Green Building Elements