Mission

OpenHOUse is a prototype for shared and sustainable forms of living. The project focuses on the urgent need to reduce embodied and operational carbon by reimagining the contemporary home’s homogeneous conditioning, conventional programmatic organization, and traditional structure. Rather than the typical hierarchical configurations of many homes, the project uses thermal gradients and degrees of interiority to organize its spaces from the inside out. It utilizes both passive and active systems to augment indoor and outdoor microclimates, balancing building performance, human comfort, and well-being throughout the year. These features are enhanced by an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart airflow system that optimizes conditioned air distribution within the project.

OpenHOUse is simultaneously open and contained, inside and outside, collective and private, fostering expanded notions of family with greater connections to our environment.