Zoka Zola Architecture designed the ‘Rafflesia House’ project as part of the Bird Island Green Home Competition held by the YTL group. ‘Bird Island’ is an urban renewal development.

The ‘Rafflesia House’ is one of the two winning projects of the invited competition to be built in Sentul Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Zoka Zola Architecture + Urban Design describe their project as followed:

The Competition
‘We have been selected to participate in an international competition for Zero Energy Housing, on six sites in the middle of Sentul Park in Kuala Lumpur. Eight designers were asked to submit two designs. From sixteen designs six designs were chosen to be constructed.

The project is envisaged as the first showcase of Sustainable Zero Energy Housing in the world. The competition brief called for houses that work in harmony with the environment, are made from renewable materials, create their own energy, and recycle water.

Beside requirements that the houses are zero energy, the competition called for innovative and extraordinary designs that contribute to the legacy of contemporary architecture.

Winning Design
Rafflesia House is a study of the human habitat that is an integrated part of its tropical, urban, and site-specific ecosystem.
We searched and re-examined the ideas of the right balance between the connection of the building to the outside and the shelter the building provides from the outside elements: plants, creatures, rain, sun, wind, or heat. We designed this house with an interest to understand real human needs relieved from burdens of pre-assumptions, but with an intent to house the whole human complexity.

The design of the house responds to the local wind-patterns and catches the breezes with its concave and convex walls, letting the air move between the louvers that provide effective shade throughout the day. Large and silent fans extract heat from every room and increase air circulation, while the hot air is vented through a double layered roof. The building is split into 7 independent climate zones, that can be individually controlled and can either be naturally ventilated, fan cooled or air-conditioned.
The footprint of the building is kept small, it sits on 12 columns to allow other species to develope around it. Rainwater is collected and used for grey water supply and irrigation.
A zero-energy house is achieved by placing photovoltaic panels on 92% of the roof surface.

Ventilation
The design of the house responds to the local wind patterns. The winds in Kuala Lumpur are on average of low speeds, while the prevailing wind direction changes from month to month.

Concave and convex walls enclose the house. The convex parts of the building envelope accelerate the existing air movement and direct it to the concave parts of the building enclosure. The concave walls catch the wind and thus prevent it to simply circumvent the house. At the concave parts of exterior walls the wind penetrates into the interior of the house through its open windows and doors. By the same principle, at the house’s courtyard the concave exterior walls direct the wind towards the interiors of the building.

The wide courtyard is well ventilated because the building is raised up from the ground, and additionally it is permanently open to winds on two opposite sides.

To minimize the shielding of air movement by the building itself, one half of the house is higher up than the other half.

Air space between the top and the lower roof insulates the interior of the building from heat generated by the sun. Its height is 0.5 m tall and < 6 m deep, and therefore it is a well naturally ventilated space. It is also used for the discharge of interior air with fans in the interior ceilings, thus freeing the roof for the installation of solar panels.

Design
The winning design looks like the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world and a native to the rainforests of Malaysia. The blossom is pollinated by flies attracted by its scent, which resembles that of the carcass. The flower lasts for only a few days. Rafflesia challenges traditional definitions of what a plant is because it lacks chlorophyll and is therefore incapable of photosynthesis. Rafflesia is a parasite. It did not begin its life as a parasite, but evolved this lifestyle. Biologists do not know what the Rafflesia’s function is in its ecosystem.’

‘This design reflects how I see what the island needs: a literally integrated building to the island ecosystem, and a new strategy of how to achieve and harness natural ventilation (the main mode of passive cooling in tropical climate).’ Zoka Zola

For further information and pictures visit: www.zokazola.com.

Another project of ‘Bird Island’ is introduced here.