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Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

The Sun Flower House

Koichi Takada has been commissioned by Bloomberg Green to imagine the dream home of Europe’s greener tomorrow; a carbon positive dwelling inspired by the sunflower.

Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

One century since the Bauhaus reshaped the West through their modernist designs, Koichi Takada, whose designs have always mimicked nature and its flora and fauna has been recruited to help create a new common aesthetic born of the urgent need to combat climate change. According to Bloomberg Green: The New European Bauhaus gained gravitas following a speech in October by the president of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, who called for a new climate project with “its own aesthetics, blending design and sustainability” and proclaimed “a new European Bauhaus movement” was required and thus the need for a positive response from designers as well as developers.

Takada’s response to that challenge was the Sunflower House, a carbon positive single-family dwelling inspired by the distinctive yellow flower and powered by the sun. “Climate change must be a catalyst for positive change, beginning with our humble homes,” says the Tokyo-born architect based in Sydney. The original Bauhaus, an early 20th century collective of designers and craftspeople, is behind much of what we recognize today as modern architecture—clean, sleek, hard.

Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

“For the future of the planet, we must shift from the industrial to natural. We need a kinetic, living architecture that respects the environment while enhancing the wellbeing of the humans who inhabit it” says Takada.

Sunflower House is designed for the Italian region of Umbria, renowned for its rolling farmland and yellow fields of sunflowers, where heatwaves are becoming more frequent and extreme. Elevated from the ground to minimise interference with the biodiversity of its surroundings, the solar panels on its petaled roof rotate on sensors for maximum sun exposure.

“Artificial structures require large foundations, but with sunflowers, nature achieves a beautiful balancing act,” says Takada. “There is a minimum intervention on the ground so the earth has room for other activities, yet the sunflower magically nods its head to bathe in the light. The Italian word Girasole literally means ‘turn to the sun’.”

Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

The circular structure of Sunflower House rotates around a central “stem” to follow the sun, allowing the moving “disc florets” to produce up to 40% more energy than static panels. The energy that isn’t used can be fed onto the grid or stored in battery “seeds” and rainwater is collected and used for irrigation and toilet flushing. The perimeter around the roof shades the windows below and aids in ventilation, and a second rotating mechanism over the glass walls protects the building from solar radiation.

“For the Bauhaus form followed function, but we say form follows nature,” says Takada.

Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

“Designers and architects talk about drawing inspiration from nature in an aesthetic sense but we must go much deeper than that,” says Takada. “It’s not just about making a building look natural, it’s about creating positive environmental change in the homes we live in, the neighbourhoods we work and play in, and ultimately the planet we are privileged to inhabit,” says Takada.Sun Flower House | Scale Magazine

Koichi Takada is also the designer of the award-winning interiors of the gift shops with the National Museum of Qatar, the design of which mimics the cave like formations in the country. He is greatly appreciated for his bold vision for the future of architecture, powered by the ancient wisdom of nature.

Project information:

Project name: Sunflower House

Client: Bloomberg Green

Architects: Koichi Takada Architects

Location: Le Marche, Italy

Building type: Single-family dwelling

Status: Unbuilt

CGI: Doug and Wolf

Diagrams: Koichi Takada Architects