Designed based on roman principles, it contributed to the emerging dialogue on passive house models and got recognized as such. Four residential units are placed around a central courtyard that acted as a well of light and rainwater collection. A small reservoir at the bottom recirculated the collected water to washrooms and kitchens, each equipped with a need-basis portable filtration system. Solar panels brought electricity, and the architectural massing of the building allowed for passive ventilation, eliminating the need for mechanical air conditioning.

This infill townhome complex, designed in 1997, was a theoretical project developed by Adriana Mot, then a student at The Institute of Architecture Ion Mincu in Bucharest, Romania and Waterloo University School of Architecture in Ontario, Canada. It won the 1998 Joe Somfay Green Energy Award in Ontario, Canada.

Images via Dochia Media