The Off-Grid Jewel

The Off-Grid Jewel rethinks rural home design, with changing lifestyles over the coming decades in mind.

This design concept develops the typical vernacular of a pitched roof house in the countryside with a rationality toward form, proportion, structure and daylight, pushing the use of ordinary materials to create joyful, sustainable spaces.

Taking a fabric-first approach to the climate crisis, the entire building is clad in an integrated solar panel rainscreen. Inside, carbon-negative OSB boards envelop the interiors. A design that is responsive to the changing seasons, the summer months benefit from overhangs to the ground floor terraces that prevent overheating, while windows placed across the elevation create opportunities for ventilation. During winter, the lower angle of the sun penetrates deep into the ground floor, with rising heat keeping the upstairs open living space warm.

Windows across each elevation allow for generous natural light all day long. The intersecting dormers create a multi-faceted, geometric ceiling that is almost crystalline in design.

Competition entry | RIBA Off-Grid 2030.