On the Aegean, Off-the-Grid

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Yalikavak, Turkey

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In construction.

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This residence consists of four buildings situated on the saddle-shaped ridge of a hill overlooking the Aegean Sea, with Greek islands on the horizon. An environment of extremes, the site is breathtakingly lush and beautiful during the spring while completely dry, arid, and ruggedly sublime at summer's end. The climate also follows this fluctuation in extremes — the site routinely reaches over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, while dipping into mid-30 degree weather during the winter, with wind speeds all year gusting near and up to 40 miles per hour.

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Taking full advantage of the weather systems and its latent energy, this project is completely off-the-grid, deploying photovoltaics, solar thermal collectors, geothermal energy, and wind power to fully supply the energy requirements of the residence. Photovoltaic panels supply surplus energy during the summer, which can later be transferred to the municipal grid. A quiet and unobstrusive helical wind turbine provides a steady stream of power at night and on days without sun. Solar thermal collectors produce hot water, while a geothermal well and cistern system efficiently conditions the living spaces by running water through the exposed concrete ceiling slabs to provide radiant heating and cooling.