Paris, France
Colin Fournier’s Circadian House is a small experimental dwelling unit for two people with 15 multidirectional glazed openings allowing it to be lit entirely by natural light from dawn to dusk.
The house was first presented last July at EPFL Pavilions Museum in Lausanne, as part of a group show titled Lighten Up! On Biology and Time and to be exhibited at the Guangzhou Design Triennial 2024.
Dressed in all white, the Archigram-influenced Circadian House has the internal space as open and uncluttered as possible, allowing the free play of light within the home. Internal elements and furniture are reduced to a minimum.
A compact central core, oriented East/West, divides the floor plan into two parts:
A Northern part is the kitchen and dining area, containing only one item of furniture: a kitchen worktop/dining table with four high stools;
A Southern part, which is the living area, contains a work desk with two chairs, three bean bags, and a low coffee table.
The central core (8.40 m x 2.10 m x 2.10 m high) contains all the elements that need to be enclosed: a shower room, a toilet, kitchen appliances, storage units, and wardrobe space, as well as stairs leading up to a mezzanine level, on which there is a double bed at the Eastern end and a work desk and chair at the Western end.
The location, size, geometry, and orientation of the 11 skylights (aka ”nozzles” are determined by three factors:
Based on these three parameters, the azimuth and altitude angles of the sun at the specified times determine the configuration of the skylights, so that sunlight will hit the selected locations at the right times.
The skylights are designed for the summer solstice: in the same way that biological circadian rhythms are synchronized by light every day, the house can also be said to be “synchronized” by daylight on an annual basis.
On any day other than the 21st of June, the light penetration within the home will be shifted, this shift acting as a “zeitgeber” (time indicator), signaling the passage of time as well as seasonal changes.
Continuous perception of the sun throughout the day, usually impossible in most buildings, because walls and roofs inevitably act as obstacles, is the primary design objective of the house. In keeping with recent scientific findings in chronobiology, it maximizes the beneficial effects of daylight on the occupants, in terms of their physiological and psychological wellbeing.
The biomorphic form of the building is generated directly by the daylight criteria. In order to achieve high levels of ambient illumination and to maximize reflections, all external openings have wide reveals and all surfaces are white, including the floor and all the external surfaces of the central core.
The two virtual occupants of the Circadian House are even dressed in white.
The detailed architectural design and engineering of the Circadian House are starting now and the aim is to build it soon.
In terms of materials and structure, it is anticipated that the double-curved shell of the building and its nozzles may be realized as a lightweight sandwich with inner and outer skins of fiberglass or carbon fiber, and a core insulation.
The inside and outside of the building will have smooth, seamless white surfaces, with the lightness and natural structural efficiency of an eggshell.
It may be light enough to be airlifted in place by helicopter (or by drone?).
In addition to being lit entirely by natural light, the Circadian House is designed to be highly efficient environmentally and thermally in other respects (only 7% of the total outer skin surface is glazed, minimizing heat gains and losses) as well as to achieve a zero-carbon rating.
Project: Circadian House
Architects: Studio Colin Fournier
Lead Architect: Colin Fournier
Client: EPFL Pavilions Museum in Lausanne
