1 - Let there be Light

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Open to the surrounding natural environment, the house tends toward the translucid. The enclosed “house” area extends to an outdoor living area, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside. The house is raised on piers to maximize exposure to sunlight and offer the best panoramic view of the surroundings.

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Luminous. The channeling and use of natural light is a guiding design parameter in terms of orientation,

placement of openings, choice of forms, and placement of reflecting surfaces. Light is the principal design material, used to influence our perception of space, color, and texture. The twilight and the night make the house incandescent. Like a lantern, or a lighthouse, it emits light for its dwellers and all those nearby, thanks in large part to its capture and storage of solar energy stored during the day.

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Inspired by plants, its energy efficiency is based on the use of sunlight as a source of energy and for internal climate control. This includes low-tech approaches such as material thermal inertia and high-tech automated controls of sunshades and ventilation.  

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2 - Seeking lightness

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The house seeks to reduce mass, first of all by building only as much as necessary. Its basic model includes only two stacked cubes of indoor space that together add up to 40m2. Partially covered outdoor space serves to double the functional living area. Light materials are used wherever possible, to allow greater modularity, mobility, as well as elegance. Like the trees around it, its mass is restrained to its required functions. Like the Eiffel tower, whatever steel is used should feel more like lace.

The load of the house is also intended to be as light as possible in terms of construction cost. This does not in any way mean using cheap materials or labor; rather, it means that the construction process and methods eliminate whatever is unnecessary or of questionable value.  

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The house leaves a minimal ecological footprint. Energy-efficient, it uses the “cleanest” energy available. Built only with natural or recyclable materials, locally sourced as far as possible, it can be removed from its site with no permanent mark on the land, and should its disposal, if required, is waste-free.

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3 - Lighter living

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Living with less. The house integrates all required functionalities and offers built-in aesthetics. For example, cabinets, seating, and bedding have either been built in or have been curated to fit the house’s precise measurements. Even artwork and crafted objects have been curated to fit perfectly. As such, nothing need be added. You, the lucky Light House dweller, are liberated from all your existing “stuff”. There remains no room for consumerism. No more trips to Ikea. Only very special personal items have their space in such a house. In this way, the house induces a certain way of living that is a vector of personal and societal change.

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