florian busch architects' modular 'house W' generates more energy than it consumes

beyond net zero: the sustainable ‘house w’

Florian Busch Architects’ (FBA) newly completed House W in Nakafurano, Hokkaido, marks the firm’s first project that generates more energy than it consumes. Rather than achieving this carbon neutrality through compact design, the solution lies in breaking up the structure. A young family from Tokyo commissioned FBA to design a home on the western edge of the Furano Plateau, a 25-kilometer (15.5 mile)-long and 5-kilometer (3 mile)-wide stretch known for its cold, snowy winters and mild summers. The team’s goal was ambitious: to create a building entirely independent from the local power grid, achieving net-zero energy consumption.

In reality, House W surpasses this objective, producing nearly twice the energy it consumes over the course of a year. The family selected a site in the middle of active agricultural land, prioritizing functional farmland use over picturesque countryside aesthetics. The plot was previously home to a farmer’s barn, and the surrounding landscape consists of rice paddies, asparagus fields, irrigation channels, and roads. This setting offers an open, largely man-made natural environment.

images © Florian Busch Architects

florian busch: ‘a house is a plant for living with’

Architect Florian Busch challenges Le Corbusier’s 1923 notion of a house as a ‘machine for living in,’ suggesting instead that ‘a house is a plant for living with.’ The clients requested a simple wooden structure, much like a traditional barn. However, while a barn’s purpose is primarily passive –providing shelter for tools — House W must actively engage with its surroundings, adapting to natural conditions to sustain the family’s daily life. The design concept envisions a home that behaves like a plant, responding dynamically to its environment and utilizing available resources.

The immediate surroundings include agricultural fields, irrigation channels, roads, and power lines. However, in the distance, the Furano Plateau offers a striking panorama. The site is framed by the Tokachi mountain range to the east, rolling hills to the northwest, and Mount Furano Nishi to the southwest. House W’s design maximizes these contrasting perspectives. The property features a natural water source with a stable flow and temperature year-round. FBA integrates a heat pump system to harness this resource, providing underfloor heating and hot water for the house.

The site’s flat terrain is also ideal for solar energy collection. Unlike conventional approaches where photovoltaic panels are added later in the design process, House W incorporates solar performance as a core design element from the outset. The building’s ‘solar skin’ consists of a dark, rigid exterior that houses integrated photovoltaic panels, forming an energy-generating surface. Openings are strategically positioned not by cutting into this skin but through a more radical design approach.

Florian Busch Architects’ House W generates more energy than it consumes

Growing Through Modularity

Initially conceived as a compact volume resembling a barn, early design studies by Florian Busch Architects explored various ways to optimize House W’s orientation toward three main directions. Instead of polygonal footprints or branching structures, the final design breaks the building into two rotated volumes, aligning their short ends with the eastern and northwestern mountain views. This creates an interstitial space facing Furano’s ski slopes to the southwest.

This strategy maintains the simplicity of the original compact form while revealing a contrasting interior: a soft, wooden core sheltered within a hard, homogeneous exterior. The interstitial space serves as a crucial climate regulator, controlling movement and airflow within the home. Adjustable louvers modulate sunlight, blocking it in the summer and allowing warmth to enter in the winter.

The idea of dividing the structure originated from the clients’ initial request to phase construction due to market volatility. While phases one and two were ultimately built simultaneously, a third phase — comprising a shed for storage and a workshop — was added before the main house was even completed. The modular design allows for future expansion while preserving architectural integrity. The shed, positioned parallel to the road and slightly lower in height than the main house, appears as the first of multiple potential black volumes. This adaptable layout ensures that additional structures can seamlessly integrate into the existing design.

a young family moves from Tokyo to the countryside for a self-sufficient home

inspired by a plant, the design actively engages with its environment

panoramic views frame farmland, infrastructure, and distant mountain ranges

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site plan

ground level plan

upper level plan

elevations

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project info:

name: House W

architecture: Florian Busch Architects | @florianbuscharchitects

location: Nakafurano, Hokkaido, Japan

ground floor area: 163 square meters

completion: 2024

design team: Florian Busch, Sachiko Miyazaki, Yutaro Osawa, Reo Shima, Christian Baumgarten
structural engineering: Kawata Tomonori Structural Engineers (Tomonori Kawata)
consultant: Jan Warzecha (integrated energy concept)
contractor: Hashimoto Kawashima Corp.
environmental engineering: ARIGA Planning Co., Ltd. (geothermal)
environmental engineering: Clenergy Japan (photovoltaics)