Location: Sydney, Australia.

Architect: CplusC Architectural Workshop.

The concept of architecture as a form of consumption has evolved over the past century, and it is now critical to promote sustainability in every aspect of our lives. To survive the next 100 years, a house must be a machine for sustaining life, promoting values such as generating and storing power, harvesting and recycling water, producing food, and recycling waste. The Welcome to the Jungle House is an example of such a sustainable architecture, built within a heritage façade of rendered masonry, steel, timber, and greenery. The house features a photovoltaic panel array, fully operable glass inner skin, floating planter beds, and a rooftop constructed of steel planter beds providing deep soil for native plants and fruit and vegetables. The house also includes an aquaponics system, a green roof fed from nutrient-rich water pumped from the fishpond, a solar panel facade system with battery storage, and rainwater harvesting systems. The house is designed to promote sustainability in architectural design and to integrate landscape, food, nature, garden, environment, energy, waste, water, and beauty symbiotically. The architecture is consumed largely through the media, where image is everything, and the house acts as a beacon of sustainability within its community. The house draws daily crowds from commuters, engineering and architecture students en-route from public transport hubs to the nearby University of Sydney, often enquiring about a visit to learn about the innovative environmental systems. The concept was very deliberate in promoting integrated sustainability in architectural design to image-obsessed generations of students. With a family of five devoted to positive and sustainable architecture, the Welcome to the Jungle House presents a future model for inner-city living – A House is a Machine for Sustaining Life.

Photo credit: Ryan NgMichael Lassman.