Modular Treehouse Concept

The house is completely naturally ventilated. The baffles on the belly of the structure serve a double purpose in that they force the fresh air into a 'plenum' around the floor perimeter, which can be controlled through adjustable grilles in the small up stand around the floor edge. On a hot summers day the perimeter high level glazing is opened together with these floor vents so that cross ventilation is forced through the interior spaces with the hot air being naturally exhausted in a stack effect.

Saving water is essential to a sustainable lifestyle. Rainwater is collected around the perimeter at roof level and is filtered and stored within a large storage tank (4,000 litre capacity) located within the central core behind the staircase. This water will serve all toilet flushing, shower, and washing facilities.

Just as important to conserve energy is the need to clean the pollutants produced by our daily life. All drainage within the design is filtered through a series of soak away 'ponds' at ground level. The waste water from the house flows to an aerogated pool and then through a series of other ponds where plants such as water reeds, bulrushes, hyacinth, watercress and other weeds are able to thrive on the grey water whilst at the same time cleaning the polluted water before it returns into the natural ground water. Heating is supplied through an electric under floor heating system that utilises coils pre-wired into the GRP floor structure. Recycled insulation material is forced into the cavities between the perimeter GRP structure in the walls, floor and ceiling that aid summer cooling and prevent excess winter heat loss.

Another key environmental factor within the design is the 'smart glazing' where the glass is capable of being clear and colourless on a cold day with the ability to be switched to a tinted, heat reject state, on hot and glary days to keep out 95% of the summer Infra Red Radiation whilst at the same time maintaining the views from the interior. At a flick of a switch the glass can also become completely opaque through the use of electronic LCD within the glass construction.

SUPPORT

Initial discussions and meetings with certain local authorities have generated overwhelming support from a number of districts including:

Bath & North East Somerset District Council - Planning Services North Wiltshire District Council - Planning Services South Gloucestershire District Council - Planning Services

Now we were originally alerted to this story in several of our favourite places so to be sure that we don’t leave any of them out, they were Gizmodo, Born Rich and Core77, and just for the record, Sybarite is a term for a person excessively fond of luxury. Isn't that everybody?