Strata Field

Let the house breathe and let the environment in.

Notes 備考

Modular Research Dwelling

Architecture · 2026

Studio V - Epic Metal Competition ·with Devin Chang, Adeline Kwan, Terri Xin

A modular research dwelling designed to change with the people and environment around it.

The house is designed for two environmental scientists studying atmospheric deposition: what the atmosphere brings to the ground through rain, snow, and dry particles. This is why it is placed within an open field.

The physical model from one end: three sloped roofs, each hung with a curtain of translucent corrugated screens, on concrete footings. — Physical model

Inside the lab: a scientist sits at a window looking through the perforated screen, under a skylight, between corrugated metal walls. — The lab

The house is organized through two layers of skin, creating a protected space between the exterior and interior. Lightwells bring daylight through both layers, while vertical chimneys allow warm air to rise and escape.

Plan: living rooms and bedrooms in dry modules, kitchen, bathroom and mechanical room in wet modules, a lab, and two outdoor patios, under three lines of screens. — Plan10 ft

Wet and dry

Keeping the wet spaces together concentrates the plumbing, water collection, and mechanical systems into one area, while keeping the other modules more flexible.

Living Room
Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2
Dining / Kitchen
Mechanical Room
Bathroom
Outdoor Patio / Collection Site
Lab
Outdoor Patio

Transverse and longitudinal sections: rooms lifted on footings under sloped roofs, solar panels and screens, with people for scale. — Transverse and Longitudinal Sections20 ft

Two layers, one envelope

The outer Sunscreen provides solar shading and permeability, while the inner EPIC roof and wall systems contribute to the enclosure and thermal performance. The two layers have different jobs but work together as one envelope.

Exploded axonometrics of the sun screen and the interior structure, with every material named between them, from solar panels and Wideck roof panels down to concrete footings. — Exploded Materiality Axons

Light, air, water

Skylights and windows follow the sun paths, for natural light and passive solar heating in the colder months and less of both in summer. Rain passes through the porous Sunscreen to the sloped roof, then through a central gutter into the mechanical module and a 2,500-gallon storage tank.

The house under the summer and winter sun paths with passive ventilation arrows; a line leads from its mechanical room down to an enlarged view of the solar panel, inverter, battery and electrical panel. — Sun, Air and the Mechanical Room

Northeast and southwest axonometrics of the house: three long corrugated roofs with solar panels, a water tank, and screens at the ends. — Northeast and Southwest Axons

Rainwater system: section, roof plan, gutter detail, and the path of water from roof to tank, filter and mechanical closet, with the deposition collectors. — Rainwater System

The modules are designed to be prefabricated and assembled in a warehouse, where their arrangement can be changed before the house is brought to the site. Modules can be added, removed, or rearranged depending on the program.

Six steps: prefabrication at the warehouse, pack and ship, pour concrete footings, crane modules onto footings, assembly and sun screen construction, solar panel installation. — Assembly

The whole physical model: solar panels on three long roofs over clear corrugated screens and a deck.

Physical model

Not meant to be a fixed house: a system that can be assembled, adapted, and moved.