When it comes to eco buildings, there are many they can be sustainable: sometimes the focus is on energy efficiency, elsewhere it’s about structures with a low impact on the land, a concern for using recycled or biodegradable materials, or even simply a capacity to withstand harsh temperatures, wind or rain.
Author Philip Jodidio’s new book Homes for our Time. Sustainable Living (Taschen, AED 295) celebrates environmentally innovative homes around the world, from a passively cooled brick cube in Ahmedabad, India, to a modern interpretation of bamboo architecture in Bali, Indonesia – as well as the six residences shown below, our favourites from the 63 projects featured. Whether modest or monumental, all issue a clarion call to design smarter and with less waste. “Today, the term ‘sustainabilityʼ concerns not only the environmental cost of operating a home, but also that of building it,” say Jodidio. “Architects who design single-family homes have a duty, now almost a sacred calling, to work, think and pray, so that the future will not be as black as it appears today.”
Niwa-no-ie, Chuubu, Gifu, Japan
Designed by architect Norihiro Kawai, this compact home has a green roof and thatched outer walls for insulation, so it blends almost seamlessly into a flat terrain of rice paddy fields (its name translates as “garden house”). The project explores how to reinvent Japan’s traditional housing in a modern way, with the dwelling treading lightly in its surroundings. Inside, it’s surprisingly contemporary, featuring natural stone, lots of greenery, and a diagonal layout that enmeshes each room in the landscape.
Matagouri House, Queenstown, New Zealand
Second on our list of eco buildings is this isolated home, with its roof planted with native grasses, sunken profile and diminutive proportions, it almost disappears into a majestic landscape. Designed by Auckland practice Fearon Hay, the project was named after the local matagouri shrub, which can live more than 100 years. The home’s grey stucco façade was chosen to blend into the mountains, and is echoed by polished-concrete interior walls and rustic timber ceilings. Full-height glazing creates the impression of being immersed in nature.
Earth House, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
As if to symbolise its respect for the environment, a mature tree rises through the single-slope roof of Ken Nishiguchi’s Earth House, which was designed for the architect’s parents. Reflecting its setting near a 400-year-old granite quarry, where stone remnants are covered in moss, the mountain home has granite and cedar-bark walls, and incorporates natural boulders, trees and wild plants into its interior spaces. Living here means being in harmony with wildlife – birds, blossoming trees, falling leaves – and being surrounded by found materials and pieces made by local craftsmen. A series of mezzanine levels gives the inhabitants a bird’s eye view of the treetops.
Essential Homes Research Project, Venice, Italy
The Norman Foster Foundation and concrete manufacturer Holcim developed this fully recyclable emergency shelter, which was shown in a historic garden as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. The shelter is designed to be transported in a rolled-up form, like a carpet, before being unfolded, placed on a rubble base and “watered down:” within 24 hours, it forms a solid, waterproof shell. The design uses 70 per cent less carbon than a normal home of the same size, and is intended to last for up to 20 years. The modular interior, with folding furniture, offers a degree of comfort unusual in refugee shelters. Foster imagined large communities of these shelters replacing refugee camps.
Toquilla Houses, Portete Island, Esmeraldas, Ecuador
Made largely with sustainable straw and bamboo, this prototype house was created by Rama Estudio of Quito, Ecuador, to house people displaced by earthquakes. Several models were constructed in the province of Esmeraldas, which was hit by a tremor in 2016. The design adapts the local building vernacular to make it more durable, flood-resistant and thermally efficient; palm partitions and mosquito netting eliminate the need for glass, and each home has its own wastewater management system. Local residents were trained in construction and weaving to build the homes, whose interior spaces are warm and beautiful, featuring bamboo and native woods.
Chuzhi Residence, Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu, India
The extraordinary structure of this home (whose name means “whirlpool” in the local Malayalam language) is made from a mix of discarded plastic bottles and pre-cast earthen debris. Designed by Dubai-born architect Vinu Daniel, founder of Wallmakers, the house is woven organically around a landscape of tamarind trees and rock faces, its expanses of glass roof allowing residents to feel at one with nature. The architect calls this “camouflage architecture”, an idea that’s reinforced by interior spaces which “whirl” between the trees, leaving them to thrive undisturbed. The earthy interior is decorated with reclaimed wood.
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