Sustainable Design Update

Hof House – Studio Granda Architects

The cold weather here in Ann Arbor reminded me of one of my favorite buildings of 2009.  Just south of the Arctic Circle, the Hof House both blends with and contrasts the local environment. Studio Granda Architects designed the house with salvaged materials wherever possible, carving telegraph poles into a sun screen and using local basalt for stepping stones. Designed for extreme local weather conditions (Skagafjörður Fjord), the Hof House utilizes passive solar design strategies for the half year when the sun shines.  It also uses geothermal heating and high insulation levels.

The exterior finish is cedar attached to concrete structural walls. and like Frank Lloyd Wright buildings it is intended to weather to a natural grey.  While the overall aesthetic doesn’t look it, the Hof House has repeating irregular hexagonal shapes.

Geothermal heating warms stone floors and provides heat and hydro power provides electricity throughout the house.

Studio Granada’s Hof House won the Mies van der Rohe Award for 2009.

Check Out:   Studio Granda Architects

Related Posts:

Underground Home – Switzerland

Historic Solar Tech

NauHaus is a Very Fine House

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Architecture, Design, Energy, Green Building Materials, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.