Yin Yang House was designed for the 2011 Boral Design Awards. This conceptual competition challenged entrants to submit a sustainable house design for a detached residential dwelling.
The brief called for small footprint, energy-efficient designs that utilised a select range of Boral products to meet Australia’s changing housing needs.
Archisoul’s entry incorporated passive house design principles to produce a thermally stable, low-impact home. Solar orientation, shade devices, thermal mass, and double-glazed louvre windows minimise heat gain and loss, reduce glare and capture natural light and breezes.
The use of recycled bricks and Envirocrete recycled concrete further reduce the structure’s footprint.
On the aesthetic level, this design interprets sustainability as a matter of balance – between height and width, circle and square, masculine and feminine.
The house is perfectly proportioned to yield the greatest floor space ratio on the least amount of land. Sharp angles are offset by curves, concrete is softened by timber. The arc of the hardwood sunshade bathes the house in gentle light, enveloping the building’s masculine solidity in the feminine embrace of organic materiality.
The result is a graceful, sustainable house design of enduring beauty.