40 x 40 House
Greensburg, Kansas

Competition Entry 2009

Design Team
Brian Messana, Toby O’Rorke, Emily Lowry

Given the competition brief to design a building as both eco-lodging and an educational environment, we felt the best format to achieve this was to design a prototype eco-house for the 21st century. Le Corbusier characterized a house as a “machine for living in” and with that in mind we designed a domestic architecture that responds to its environment both actively and passively. Juxtaposed to this concept we also focused on this house as a home—not just a showcase for current green technology—and in so doing provide an environment visitors can relate to and be seduced into emulating. The design for the eco-house was generated by a reductive process that sought to find an essential green living environment. The eco-house assumes a low profile in the landscape; this compact form has both economic and environmental advantages. We chose a slightly smaller square footage than the brief implied so that more of the budget can be invested in technology and infrastructure.

Renderings by Messana O’Rorke