The Cape Schanck House
The house is located near rugged coastline subject to strong prevailing winds and sits within an expanse of native tea tree.
The internal skin of the living area flows continuously from the external eaves to the ceiling, and is gathered into the bulb tank. The tank cools the ambient air temperature during summer, collects and stores rain water, and structurally carries the roof load.
Excess water drains to an external tank, and is used for flushing toilets, irrigating the garden, washing wetsuits and occasionally for drinking. During winter the tank is drained and wrapped in an insulating jacket. The tank also plays an important role in organising the living area into four discrete zones: kitchen, living, eating and work.
On the south elevation, wind scoops amplify favourable southerly breezes during summer by trapping and directing cooling winds into the house, whilst providing shading from the hot afternoon sun.
Other houses have given the water tank significant location over or on the perimeter of the house. However this may be the first instance of a water tank acting as, simultaneously, a passive cooling device primary structural element, conflated in a form that acts as the conceptual and symbolic driver the project.
The message to other architects, students, organisations and the public is that, in locating the tank as the centrepiece of the scheme, the issue of water and by extension the environment should be at the centre of our thoughts.
The Cape Schanck House was one of only twenty projects globally to be nominated for the biennial Zumtobel Group Award which honours outstanding sustainable solutions in architecture and humanity.
