Succulent House

Chicago, Illinois 

Succulent House addresses the pressing global issue of freshwater quality and supply as but one possible force to drive design ingenuity and improve environmental performance. This approach allows us to speculate on the organizational, spatial and atmospheric potential of water collection on the American house. Organizationally, the roof area of the house is divided in two and its area maximized for water collection, storage and distribution. The inverted roof planes direct rainwater to storage cores around which program is distributed. Roofscape collection is experienced from the interior as the space rises and falls to meet the ceiling. The collected water is stored in bladders that respond to changes in seasonal rainfall. Like its namesake plant, the bladders exhibit succulence in times of increased water supply. In times of low supply, the bladders are loose and drapery like.

murmur: Heather Roberge
This project is featured in full in "306090, Volume 14: Making A Case", published in 2011.