An energy conscious house for Malta

Winner of First Prize in the 2 nd Commonwealth Inter-school Design Competition organised by theCommonwealth Association of Architects (CAA), 1991. The winning design was a pair of houses with wind towers. It was praised by the jury as an innovative and original solution to the brief recognising local conditions, elegantly and thoughtfully presented. The planning of the dwelling pleasantly reflected the local lifestyle with an interesting internal environment. The chosen entry was published in the CAA news, and other architectural journals.A direct gain system was adopted, each space having a thermal mass for the storage of solar heat while preventing the internal air temperature from rising too much when the sun is allowed to penetrate through the windows. This required choosing the optimum shape, location and orientation of the building as well as the location of both indoor spaces and the openings in these spaces to protect the building from summer heat and from cold and rain in winter. Good ventilation for summer and heating for winter were two of the major considerations in the design.