This article was taken from the June 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Architect Charles Wright was commissioned to build this private residence for a client who wished to live completely off-grid -- and in the middle of the Far North Queensland rainforest in Australia, which averages four tropical cyclones a year.
Features such as power lines and water pipes had to be cast in situ into steel-reinforced concrete, and the cantilever design prevents flooding. "It's effectively a beautiful bunker," says Wright.
Sun is scarce during monsoon seasons, but the building's solar panels have a storage capacity that eliminates the need for a backup fossil-fuel generator. "It can operate for at least two months without any sunshine," he explains. There's no risk of running out of water either: the rain harvested from the roof in such torrential downpours can fill a 250,000-litre concrete tank, located beneath a pool in the centre of the house, in a matter of days --"and that kind of quantity of water would probably last for about a year". Any wastewater passes through a tertiary sewage treatment system and irrigates an adjacent grassland area.
Stamp House, intended as a family home, was completed in December last year, and now it's experienced a rainy season it will start to take on its natural surroundings as the concrete façade develops a patina. "The building will very much appear to be of the place."
<span class="s2">wrightarchitects.com.au
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
