Abstract

This talk describes a small house that I built in Cambridge in 1991. An aim of the design was to establish a strong connection between the internal spaces and the external environment, to provide a sense of the passage of time, both seasonally and diurnally. In 2012/2013 I contributed to an international research project that led to the publication of a report, Circadian House: Principles and Guidelines for Healthy Homes. This was a multi-disciplinary project, with contributors from biological science, building science and architecture. The aim was to provide, “A comprehensive vision to realise healthy homes that support the different biological needs of their occupants, in particular including their circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles.” Part of my contribution was to offer the Cambridge house as an antecedent of the principles of Circadian design, to show how abstract principles may be translated into form. In the talk I will summarise the circadian design principles and show how these are represented by the house. I will also report on the experience of ‘living with the seasons’ for the last 30 years.