A case for Negative Zero Architecture: Studio Vural, a boutique architecture firm in Brooklyn, designs an off-the-grid dune house on the shores of Wellfleet, Cape Cod, where the principal vacations every year. The project was inspired by a squid’s rainbow flash at a nighttime fishing expedition at the very location of the project, where the principal architect Selim Vural thought; “if squids can power themselves without wiring, so should houses with no utility connections”.

Taking a spin on Net Zero construction, the Negative Zero house was conceptualized to produce more clean energy than consumed which is made possible by self-storing solar panels, hyper-insulation and burrowing. Anchored in the geothermal temperatures of sand via deep steel piles and blanketed with earth on all sides, the Dune House is what Mr. Vural calls the next generation of hyper sustainable houses which “must be aggressively pursued to turn the tables on climate change”. The concept advocates burrowing, self-storing solar panels, carbon absorptive materials and zero emissions. The demise of machines' reign is silently celebrated by humming electronic devices which power, heat, cool and vent the Dune House.​

The design is also a success in natural preservation since it is only recognizable from sea, blending seamlessly with nature; gently immersed not imposed. At the Dune House, human, bird, architecture and landscape blend as an inseparable whole as technology makes peace with nature at last.

2020

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