Slip House, by UK-based Carl Turner Architects, fits neatly into a four-plot lot between a row of terraced houses in Brixton, London. However, it's not quite your typical two-up-two down, as the prototype family home combines sustainable technologies with an unusual design based on three "slipped" orthogonal boxes.
Though located on a residential street, Slip House is actually built on a brownfield site, formerly used for industrial or commercial purposes. Its overall form consists of three slipped orthogonal box shapes, arranged to take full advantage of available natural light, and afford the best possible views.
The interior is open-plan, and makes use of the three boxes to create a distinct zone for each part of the 200 sq m (2,150 sq ft) home. The upper box is the primary living space, and connects to a private roof terrace with wildflower garden. The middle box contains sleeping quarters and bathing facilities, while the ground-floor box is left as a multi-purpose space.
To conform to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5, Slip House incorporates a 2,700 liter (713 US gallon) rainwater harvesting tank, solar panels, mechanical ventilation, triple glazing, and a high level of insulation. In addition, a solar-powered ground-source heat pump appears to provide all necessary hot water for the property, but we've reached out to the architects for confirmation on this point.
In all, Carl Turner Architects did its sums and came up with the figure of 1092.73 kg (1.2 ton) of CO2 saved per year thanks to the sustainable technologies employed within Slip House.
The property is now used by Carl Turner Architects as a prototype for in-house research toward making sustainable homes more affordable and practicable on a wider scale.
Slip House was completed in late 2012, and was a recent winner of RIBA's 2013 National Awards.