private residence.
a single-family house on the caribbean side of panamá, designed against an honest net-zero target, not the certificate version. simulation drove the section before the plan was settled.
net-zero target.
site-balanced annual energy · in design, simulated against tocumen tmy
what the climate asked for.
colón is on the caribbean side of the isthmus, hotter, wetter, and with a softer breeze than the pacific side. the client asked for a house that did not need a grid connection to be comfortable, not a house that *looked* sustainable.
the brief is honest, which is why the project takes its time. the model is asked questions weekly and the section moves with the answers.
how we worked the problem.
the design opens with three rooms tested against the same site: orientation, ventilation, and roof. the orientation set the long axis east-west to keep the short faces facing the sun. the ventilation study set the apertures by the prevailing northeast trade. the roof became a single overhanging plane, shading the south of the house and carrying the photovoltaic array on its upper face.
this is a project in process. the numbers will firm as the building is built.
each move contributes incrementally.
performance is not one heroic intervention. it is the small decisions, added up. each row below is a number the model produced.
a house that asks for less, so the panels can give it everything.