We have heard many things done using water like water bed and so on, but have you ever heard/seen a water house? Yes here is a man who builds houses using water which can regulate its temperature.
Case Study:
Matyas Gutai is a Hungarian architect who relies on building houses using water which is a perfect material for keeping a house at an optimal temperature.
After many years of research and development, Gutai built a prototype house in his hometown of Kecskemet, south of Budapest, with his high school friend Milan Berenyi, The house was built with a grant from the EU, he uses this whole idea using ”liquid engineering” concepts.
Works:
The water house is not only made up of water it also contain Panels, steel, and also glasses, to create a structure of the house and a sheet of water which equalizes and regulates the temperature across the building. This house is only a small space of (eight square meters in total).
The house is able to reheat itself, when its hot, excess heat is stored either in the foundations of the building or in external storage, to be brought back to the walls when the temperature drops. The indoor temperature can also be modified using a monitoring system similar to central heating.
This house can produce its own energy and be more independent of energy suppliers, which could reduce carbon emissions which is very efficient and sustainable system.
Gutai Words:
“Our panel can heat and cool the building itself — the water inside the panel does the very same job as heating,”
“It saves energy, when you compare it to a similar building with large glass surfaces — it’s a very clean and sustainable solution.”
Preliminary Concept:
When he was studying sustainable architecture at the University of Tokyo, in 2003, he got this idea of water house after visiting an open-air baths surrounded by snow and noticed that he remained comfortable within the water. From there, he realized the importance of water’s overall temperature and its promising use and made a goal to use this beautiful concept in his work.
“Architecture is really changing in our time. We’ve reached our limits when it comes to solid architecture, now it’s reasonable to look for a new system.” Says Gutai
Upstream & Hazard:
He had faced many difficulty in building this effective water house, he took almost 6 years to build and also he faced many structural problems and faced many questions too like, “what happens if it’s so cold outside that the water freezes or what happens when one panel breaks.” Explains Gutai
“Architecture is really changing in our time: it’s now reasonable to look for a new system”, says Gutai
Here are the answers for the above questions he faced during the architecture in his own words.
“We now mix the water with natural solvents that do not cause pollution but lower the freezing temperature to an acceptable level. This practically means that even if the reheating technology fails, the water cannot freeze.”
“In case of cold climates, like in Hungary, we also add some external insulation to the structure, to protect it from freezing.”
And if a panel were to break? “We designed special joint units. The joint elements allow slow flow, but block faster flows,” This means that if one panel breaks, it will be sealed from the remaining ones instantly. This effect is based on fluid dynamics and not computers or monitoring system — which minimizes the chance of failure, he explains.
Forthcoming ideas:
“Our goal should be to use less energy and materials, and take cities off-grid as much as possible. The water house is one way to do that,” said Gutai.
Constructing this type of low cost and less energy houses will be more efficient and makes our future to stay green rather cutting the trees and building the houses or creating a polluted environment. The idea is superb hope this will be a successful project and implemented everywhere.
