Innovative Zero-Energy Home Wins BIG SEE Architecture 2024 Award

We are delighted to announce that our innovative zero-energy semi-detached dwelling has been awarded the prestigious BIG SEE Architecture 2024 Award in the Residential-Houses category. This unique corner property maximizes its triangular site by playing with light and shadow, creating a striking streetscape presence.

The home’s inverted layout places cooler bedrooms below in summer and main living areas, an outdoor terrace, and a pool deck with a 10-meter lap pool above. A mix of marble, granite, concrete, perforated steel, and bamboo creates a rich material palette, enhanced by natural light from strategically placed double-glazed apertures, including a 6-meter-long picture window in the west-facing kitchen.

Central to the design is a solar chimney, which, along with 18 high-performance PV panels and a fully insulated building skin, ensures the home achieves net-zero energy status. The solar chimney also acts as a light well, diffusing light down to the basement. It heats air at the glazed top, which rises and escapes through openable apertures, drawing cooler air through the basement to naturally cool the living spaces during hot Maltese summers.

A central courtyard brings natural light to the lower levels, reducing reliance on artificial lighting and enhancing the home’s energy efficiency. This project exemplifies innovative and sustainable design, making a significant contribution to modern residential architecture.