Macdonald Wright Architects creates low-energy home in London as "scalable prototype"

London studio Macdonald Wright Architects has created the low-energy and heavily insulated Library House on an infill plot in Hackney.

Designed as a rental property for studio founder James Macdonald Wright, the two-storey home was built on a four-metre-wide plot, which was previously used as a junkyard, adjacent to the listed Clapton Library.

Macdonald Wright Architects has created a house on an infill plot in Hackney

The aim of the project was to demonstrate how an affordable, low-energy house could be created using simple yet robust materials.

Macdonald Wright Architects wanted to use the opportunity to study the energy performance of the home, which has the same footprint as "the average UK dwelling", to inform its future projects.

The dwelling is heavily insulated and low energy

Working with certified Passivhaus designer Conker Conservation, the studio created Library House to meet the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) standard.

The standard focuses on using simple techniques and technologies to reduce the operational carbon dioxide emissions of a building by 70 per cent when compared to the average UK structure of the same size and typology.

The material palette was chosen to be simple yet robust

"We selected the AECB route over Passivhaus because it offered a more practical and affordable route to achieving excellent performance," the studio's founder told Dezeen.

"The AECB Building Standard is aimed at those wishing to create high-performance buildings using widely available technology," Macdonald Wright explained.

Douglas fir and spruce detailing features throughout

This standard was met by creating a heavily insulated external envelope for the dwelling, teamed with a Passivhaus-rated front door and triple glazed windows and roof lights.

To retain heat, the house also makes use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). It achieves an airtightness of 1.3 ACH@50Pa, which is significantly less than UK building regulations that require airtightness of 10 ACH@50Pa or less. This refers to the number of air changes per hour at a pressure difference of 50 pascals.

All the windows are triple glazed

The dwelling is complete with an electric boiler for top-up heating and a photovoltaic array, from which surplus electricity is supplied to the national grid.

Since completion, the house has been occupied by private tenants. However, the electricity bill has been monitored and paid for by Macdonald Wright Architects.

The studio has calculated that the "operational energy for heating the house is a tenth of the requirement of a new build house under current building standards".

Blue Lias stone is used as flooring

Visually, the Library House is designed to mirror the proportions, styles and details of the neighbouring red brick library and a row of white cottages.

Lime-pointed white brickwork is teamed with a russet-hued Corten steel panel outside, which incorporates the front door and perforated solar shading for the first floor.

The russet-hued front door is Passivhaus-rated

Materials used throughout Library House were selected to minimise the need for maintenance and reduce the embodied-carbon footprint of the dwelling.

This includes the use of Porotherm clay block party walls and timber structure, along with internal finishes such as Blue Lias stone flooring sourced and sustainably sourced douglas fir and spruce detailing.

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Internally, walls are predominantly finished in a parge coat, trowelled over the Porotherm clay blockwork for a textured finish that also contributes to the home's high airtightness.

Macdonald Wright Architects hopes that the Library House will become a "scalable prototype" and inform its future projects at various scales.

Porotherm clay blocks are used on party walls

"Each project we complete informs the next," Macdonald Wright explained. "The use of Porotherm block and Larsen Truss has helped us develop techniques of external envelope construction we are now developing in larger scale designs."

"By focusing on the build quality, airtightness and thermal performance of the external envelope construction we can reduce the overall cost of building to higher levels of sustainability," he continued.

Corten steel functions as solar shading

Another recently completed low-energy house on Dezeen is the Devon Passivhaus, which McLean Quinlan nestled into a sloped walled garden of an old English country house.

The building's envelope performs to the highly energy-efficient Passivhaus standard, achieved using substantial amounts of insulation and triple glazing throughout.

Rooflights feature throughout the house

Macdonald Wright founded his eponymous studio in east London in 2005. Another notable project by the studio is the Caring Wood country house in Kent, which won the 2017 RIBA House of the Year.

Designed in collaboration with architect Niall Maxwell, the dwelling is topped with chimney-like roofs and provides a residence for three generations of the same family.

The photography is byHeiko Prigge.

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Project credits:

Architect: Macdonald Wright Architects

Structural engineer: Osbourne Edwards

Sustainability consultant: Conker Conservation

Quantity surveyor: GQS Services.

Contractor: Daneco Build

Groundworks: Hauge Construction

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Studio Vural envisions Manhattan tower draped in colourful flowers

US firm Studio Vural has conceived a mixed-use skyscraper covered with Asian lilies as a "powerful image" to promote low-energy design.

A conceptual project, the Lilly tower has been envisioned for a site alongside Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. Renderings show a skyscraper with a curved apex that rises near the American Radiator Building – a Gothic-style tower dating to 1923.

The Lilly would be a mixed-use skyscraper covered in Asian lilies

The Lilly's shape was informed by the steep rice fields found in parts of Asia, "where every square inch of fertile soil matters", said Selim Vural founder of Brooklyn-based Studio Vural.

The Lilly building would be triple glazed and partly covered in vegetation, which would provide natural insulation.

The planting system would consist of lightweight, concrete beds supported by a steel frame

Vural envisions using Asiatic lilies, a hearty and low-maintenance plant that blooms every spring and remains green the rest of the year. The flowers come in a variety of hues, including red, yellow and orange.

"A flower field is a powerful image, which is fitting to Lilly's message – clean construction technology with an aesthetic statement," he said.

"Without the aesthetics, it is not architecture. It is just building."

Renderings show a skyscraper with a curved apex

Vural said the tower would be similar in spirit to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which features exposed structural and mechanical systems on the exterior. Centre Pompidou was designed by Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini and opened in 1977.

"It is the same effect as Centre Pompidou, but with flowers," Vural said of his tower.

Lilly has been envisioned for a site in Midtown Manhattan

The planting system would consist of lightweight, concrete beds supported by a steel frame. Water would come from rainwater and greywater, along with city-supplied water if needed.

To maintain the vegetation, Vural said "brave landscapers" would pass through access doors leading to steep ladders. Drones could potentially help, as well.

Studio Vural suspects that lilies would thrive in this context

Vural suspects that lilies would thrive in this context, based on advice from landscape architects and his own personal experience. An avid urban gardener, Vural has a 1,000-square-foot (93-square-metre) farm on his roof in Brooklyn.

"I grow vegetables and flowers, compost, and use bottom fertilizing through custom-made water tanks," he said. "Over the 15-year history of my deck, lilies and lilacs were the main thrivers in frigid weather and extreme winds."

As for the building's program, Vural envisions 21 floors dedicated to commercial space and 18 levels for residential units.

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"The tower caters to the pandemic-generated remote workforce, providing residences close to co-working spaces with large conference spaces and recreational amenities," the architect said.

Daylight would stream in through large stretches of glass, and fresh air would enter through operable windows in the residential portion. Heating and cooling would be provided by a geothermal system, with heat exchangers helping minimize energy loss.

Vural said the tower would be a passive house building – a highly energy-efficient building that follows standards that originated in Germany decades ago. Those standards include an airtight envelope, careful management of solar heat gain and the inclusion of a heat-recovery system, according to the Passive House Institute US.

The studio said that the building would be energy-efficient

The term passive house can refer to all building types, not just houses.

Vural was inspired to create the Lilly tower after seeing a number of passive houses popping up in Brooklyn.

Lilly is currently a conceptual skyscraper

"There is a silent, sustainable revolution in Brooklyn, which started with solar panels ten years ago and is in full swing with townhouses and brownstones purchased by gentrifiers," the architect said.

He described the revolution as "silent" due to passive houses blending in with more traditional buildings, in terms of visual appearance. The systems that enable a home to be highly energy-efficient are often invisible.

"In my projects, I want to make it visible, if not screaming," he said. "Architecture must make an aesthetic statement that is holistic to all layers of the project, which is what I am after in Lilly."

"If we had a hundred Lillies in Manhattan, it would be a very different city," he added.

Other conceptual projects by Studio Vural include a holiday dwelling in Cape Cod that is carved into sand dunes and operates without relying on public utilities.

The renderings are by Studio Vural.

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Project credits:

Principal architect: Selim Vural

Junior architect: Ceren Kalayci

Renderings: Dom Wipas

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