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Climate Responsive Design
In Glenn Murcutt’s Magney House
Rachel Brown
December 6, 2004
A major force in Glenn Murcutt’s design of the Magney House is his commitment to
ecological functionalism, that is, how architecture responds to the environment in which it is built
– site and climate, local materials and local issues. “Planning buildings, locating them, letting the
sun in, excluding the sun, letting the wind in, excluding the rain, enjoying weather, enjoying
knowing whether it is a fine day, a windy day, a wet day, a cold day while you are being protected
against the elements.”1 These are the issues with which Murcutt is concerned, beyond the
prescribed program and architectural issues. Indeed, several programmatic and architectural
issues are raised or resolved by Murcutt’s attention to ecological design.
A major trend in today’s architecture is the use of environmental design techniques in
building design. With about half of energy consumption in developed countries being spent on
either building construction or building energy use such as heating and cooling, reducing energy
in architecture could have a significant effect on world energy use. 2 The US Green Building
Commission has released a set of standards for certification that construction is “green”, that is,
good for the environment. This standard is known as LEED, Leadership in Environmental and
Energy Design, and includes factors involving site selection, energy, water, and material use, and
indoor air quality. Though the guide encourages integrating ideas about the environment into
design, many of the credits can be added on without truly incorporating the techniques into the
conceptual design. Whereas LEED, and many other environmentally-minded architects,
suggests ready-made solutions to architectural and environmental issues, Glenn Murcutt’s design
process in the Magney House uses environmental and climatic issues to directly inform his
conceptual design.
Murcutt sees climate not as a hindrance to design but instead as a generator. “Of
climate, cultural overlays, landscape, topography, water – I mean, all those other things that
we’ve discussed: fine days, wet days, windy days. You have to know what they are, first of all.
Why do I have glass on the roof there, why is it shaded? It took me a long time to solve that. It
took perhaps a week to work it out, and twenty drawings to decide the simplest way, how there
was going to be the least number of parts moving – if possible, no parts moving – and let the
planet do all the moving, and you just design around that. That took a lot of effort, but it worked.
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That is what I refer to as ‘solving the problem’. Beautifully, I hope.” 3 For Murcutt, environmental
design comes not at the end of the project but the beginning.
For example, a major concern for environmental design is maximizing energy
performance. Suggestions from the USGBC for doing so point to maximizing the efficiency of
energy systems and the performance of the building envelope. Two major factors in energy use
for a building are the HVAC system and interior lighting. Murcutt’s linear design with its
orientation with the long transparent side to the north, facing the equator, allows for both natural
lighting and optimal solar access for each season. Murcutt believes that the horizontality speaks
to the Australian landscape, but through his climate responsive design, the reason for the linear
design is two-fold.
With the introduction of alternative forms of energy such as solar or wind energy,
traditional uses of energy could remain in place with the only change being in the source of
energy. Additionally, defensive skins which are massive or use solar glass could be used to
reduce energy consumption. However, this type of architecture merely creates a barrier to the
exterior, losing the connection to the climate and replacing it with the universal climate of 22
degrees Celsius with low humidity. One is separated from the very place one is supposed to be
experiencing.4 Though buildings, as shelter, should protect its inhabitants from severe and
uncomfortable weather, the principles of climate responsive design dictate that the inhabitants
should still be connected to the landscape.
In all climates, the need to minimize or maximize solar access can be a key factor in
determining building orientation. The Magney House, located in New South Wales, Australia, is
in a temperate to moderate climate. In the winter months, maximizing solar access is useful for
heating in the early morning or late afternoon to maintain a comfortable temperature while
minimizing the necessity for heating. In the summer months, minimizing solar access is
necessary to prevent heat gain from the sun which would make the building warmer than would
be comfortable.5
Direct solar access can be minimized by reducing the area of wall surface that is largely
exposed to the sun. Walls oriented to the low-altitude sun, that is, to the east or the west, are
more exposed than walls oriented to the north or the south. The low angle of incidence is closer
to perpendicular to the wall surface, thereby generating more heat gain in these walls. By
building shorter opaque walls to the east and west, where there is the most solar heating, and
longer transparent walls to the north and south, where there is the least solar heating, solar gain
is minimized.6 Murcutt designed the Magney House along an east-west axis, creating a long
veranda. The southern wall, influenced by factors such as wind, is reverse brick veneer up
through the top of the common height living space with glass above, as are the east and west
walls and interior walls. The northern wall is all glass with louvers on the lower part to filter or
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direct light.7 Murcutt takes advantage of the manipulation of solar gain through his use of
materials and shading devices and his knowledge of the sun.
Solar gain is maximized in the winter and minimized in the summer because of the lower
altitude of the sun in the winter months. The most favorable orientation is when the incident
radiation in winter is greater than the incident radiation of that orientation in summer. For most
orthogonal buildings, there is a major trade off between maximum winter collection of sun
radiation and minimum summer protection against summer radiation. Murcutt’s elongated
veranda reduces this trade-off as the transparent wall is much longer than the opaque walls. 8
The use of transparent walls, however, requires shading. Depending on the altitude –
how high the sun is in the sky – and the azimuth – what direction the sun is shining, different
types of shading devices are required. Murcutt determined how the sunlight would hit the house
at difference times of the day at various days throughout the year. Special attention is given to
the winter and summer solstices as these determine the extremes. Through tracing the path of
the sun, different thresholds can be created so sunlight penetrates different spaces at selective
points. Murcutt uses the roof as a sunshade above the transparent upper part of the northern
wall. The lower part can be shaded by the louvers. The angle of the louvers can allow light to be
admitted in winter and reflected away in summer.
In this representation, the sun is mapped throughout the day in different months. This
technique is generally used to determine shadows, but it can also be used to represent the way
the sun moves through the sky and the effect it has on forms. First, a grid is laid out as the basis
for the sun movement. The circles are related to the altitude. When the sun is low in the sky, it
casts a long shadow and creates high solar access. When the sun is higher in the sky, it casts a
shorter shadow and creates lower solar access. Thus, the largest circle represents the lowest
altitude and the smallest circle represents the highest altitude. The diagonal lines are related to
the azimuth and represent the sun as it moves from east to west across the sky.
Next, the sun pattern is drawn out for each month from the winter solstice, approximately
June 21, at the top to the summer solstice, approximately December 21, at the bottom. As the
sun moves through the sky each day, it hits different parts of different walls, sometimes hitting the
eastern or western walls, or sometimes hitting the louvers or the eaves of the northern wall. The
principle shading device of the wall that is most directly hit is indicated by the shading of the area
of the graph. When the overhang of the eaves blocks direct sunlight or the brick side walls block
direct sunlight, the area is shaded dark. When the louvers are blocking most of the sun, the area
is marked with heavy circles. When the louvers are blocking some of the sun and some sun
enters through the clearstory windows above, the area is marked with lighter circles. These
boundaries are determined by the proportioning of the length and width of the house, heights for
the louvers and the windows, and length of the eave overhang. One could imagine then how a
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response to the sun trace lines could inform the geometry and material in the architecture. These
variables all influence how much sun radiation and light the house receives.
Through his understanding of these issues, Glenn Murcutt is able to modifiy the
traditional European veranda, used later in Australian architecture, to better respond the
Australian climate. He described the veranda as “a modifying zone between the outside and the
inside which reduced the light level, but, in turn, it trapped the heat, and heat flowed down
through the windows into the buildings… [and] excluded the winter sunlight from entering
buildings.”9 In the Magney House, instead of attaching a veranda to the building, the building
becomes the veranda, and the building is modified to act in response to the climate. The eaves
in the Magney House connect directly to the wall but extend about a meter past the wall to protect
the interior from the midday summer sun but still allow the winter sun inside. Thus the veranda, a
European architectural element, is modified for seasonal climatic conditions making it appropriate
for its place.10
Murcutt, however, does not only make the veranda appropriate for the Australian climate.
He extends the modification into architectural issues. The veranda reinforces the horizontality of
the Australian landscape. However, the traditional veranda was only a transition zone, not a
place for interaction and relaxation. By widening the veranda so that the building itself is the
veranda, with serving spaces to the far side of the veranda and served spaces receiving the light
at the close end of the veranda, the veranda becomes a place for human interaction and
activity.11
As desired by the client, the Magney House has two main zones – one for the parents
and one for family or guests. Each side has its own kitchen and bathing facilities. The two sides
of the Magney House both open to a transitional zone, the main living space. 12 The very need for
this part of the program came from Murcutt’s understanding of the Australian climate – “the
humidity level, the amount of shade we require, the wind pattern, the sort of evaporative factor we
require in order to be comfortable in shade, in a climate such as ours” – and his discovery that
“anything less than a fully opening wall was inadequate in our climate” because it “is essential to
cooling all spaces.”13 The wind blowing through the main living space creates a great cooling
power.
A key part of the building design and orientation, therefore, is the understanding of the
main wind patterns at different times of the year. The Magney House is located along the coast
in New South Wales. The house is only about 350 meters from a lake to the north and about 650
meters from the Pacific coast to the east. In the summer, the most significant breezes come from
the east to north-east. Murcutt places the building opening up to the north. He explains that “by
placing a building at 45º to the breeze, it is like running on the wind in a yacht, it is where you get
maximum speed.”14 Murcutt’s understanding of the wind currents is further reflected in the way
the force and direction of the wind affect the curve of the roof.15
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Another environmental concern is the reduction of the heat island effect for roofs. LEED
recommends using highly reflective and highly emissive roofing or installing a vegetated roof.
Murcutt uses neither technique, but instead uses local materials and techniques to create a
galvanized corrugated iron roof that cools itself and the house. Three overlapping ‘leaves of iron’
help to pull hot air out of the building and push cool air into it. The roof is sprinklered and water is
collected in wells to either side of the house. This water is reused to continue cooling the roof.16
Not only does the system used by Murcutt in the Magney House reduce the heat island
caused by the roof but it does so in a beautiful and elegant way. Again, Murcutt responds to the
climate in a way that is both environmental and architectural. The roof structure is steel with wet
plasterboard screwed onto the undersides of the purlins. The roof is lifted off the transom panels
and obtains a lightness that gives the building a tent-like quality. Murcutt describes the tent-like
quality of the roof as having “something to do with the light quality, about the vulnerability, about
the airiness… so that you feel the thrust of the outside.” 17 One may have a hard time realizing
that three façades are brick and the whole house sits on a solid concrete slab. The transparent
panels that line the roof, the louvered glass northern wall, and the gesture of the roof all create
lightness in the roof.
In addition to concerns in design practices that affect the environmental impact of the
structure, there are several concerns affecting how people experience the building. Having an
effective ventilation system, for example, helps people stay healthy and be comfortable. The
design of the wall system and the ventilators through the roof allow natural ventilation as does the
opening up of the building to the transitional living space. Because the Magney House is not very
deep, cross-ventilation is facilitated. Also the arrangement of the door openings along one axis
allows for ventilation from one room to the next.18 Horizontal vents over the doorheads allow
further air flow through the house in the summer.19
The use of natural light is also considered to improve the indoor environmental quality, as
well as reduce the energy consumption of interior lighting. The northern wall of the house has a
wall system with blinds which can further adjust the sun allowed into the space or be lifted in
winter to allow in the maximum amount of light. The external blinds can be shut at night to
reduce heat loss. The angle of the roof struts is set to the equinox sun angle. 20 All of these
design decisions could be seen as simply functional, bowing their head to the needs of the
climate.
However, Murcutt takes climate responsive design and make its architecturally beautiful.
The blinds create strong rhythms of light on the walls and floor and move throughout the day.
Early and late in the day, the sun penetrates deep into the space; in the middle of the day, the
sun has a much more subtle impact. The blinds continue the idea of the veranda as a zone of
transition. The change in light level from the outside to the inside is gradual, not abrupt. 21 The
same can be said of the transition in temperature and the transition in architectural scale. In fact,
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the large scale of the site required an increase in Murcutt’s usual module plan to 5.4 meters in
length for each room. Murcutt’s simplicity in his plan for the Magney House with each separating
wall running parallel to one another both allows the light to diffuse throughout the space, but also
creates a connection from one room to the next with the repeated lines of sunlight on the walls
and floor..22
Murcutt says “I do not see too much joy at all in nature, what I see in nature is survival.”23
His architecture begins with nature, with surviving the elements. Where it continues from there,
however, is to the joy of living. His architecture is the intersection of beauty and necessity. Many
of his major design concepts stem from climatic issues, though they may have other reasons as
well. Finnish architect Juhani Pallasma sees ecological functionalism as “the return to the
aesthetics of necessity in which the elements of metaphorical expression and practical craft fuse
into each other again.”24
Several of Murcutt’s favorite metaphors and design concepts are tied closely to climate.
His ideas about linear design and opening the building up to the exterior relate to the horizontality
of the Australian landscape as well as to ventilation and solar or thermal reasons. His concept of
creating light forms stems from these needs as well. His strong beliefs in relating to place come
in part from his own response to the use of local materials and local construction techniques.
Murcutt’s design is truly climate responsive design.
One must realize, though, that Murcutt responds to climate not for the banal, though
important, reasons of being good for the environment and reducing energy use; he instead
responds to climate for the decidedly architectural reason of existing in a landscape, of living in a
place. Murcutt “enjoy[s] the building breathing and letting the cool air pass through the house,
and over [him], as though the house were a filter between [himself] and the outside.”25
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Magney House
Location:
Bingie Bingie, NSW, 2537 Australia
Lat: 36:00:03S (-36.0007)
Lon: 150:08:34E (150.1429)
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1
Drew, Philip; Murcutt, Glenn. (1999) Touch This Earth Lightly. Potts Point,
NSW, Australia: Duffy & SNellgrove. p.78-79.
2 Hawthorne, Christopher. Metropolis, Oct 2003, p. 103. Available online at
http://www.greenclips.com/03issues/224.htm
3 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.136.
4 Hyde, Richard. (2000) Climate Responsive Design. New York: E&FN Spon p.9
5 Hyde. Cimate Responsive Design. p.176-77
6 Ibid.
7 Beck, Haig; Cooper, Jackie. (2002) Glenn Murcutt: A Singular Architectural
Practice. Sydney: The Images Publishing Group. p.83
8 Marsh, Andrew; Raines, Caroline. Square One Research.
Available online at
http://www.squ1.com/index.php?http://www.squ1.com/climate/climateorientation.html
9 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.70
10 Ibid.
11 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.157
12 Beck, Cooper. Glenn Murcutt: ASAP. p.82
13 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.98
14 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.114
15 Françoise Fromonot. (1995) Glenn Murcutt: Buildings and Projects. New York:
Watson-Guptil Publications. p.96
16 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.134
17 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.155
18 Hyde. Cimate Responsive Design. p.75
19 Beck, Cooper. Glenn Murcutt: ASAP. p.82
20 Ibid.
21 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.124
22 Beck, Cooper. Glenn Murcutt: ASAP. 82
23 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.78
24 cited in Françoise Fromonot. Glenn Murcutt: Buildings and Projects. p.48
25 Drew, Murcutt. Touch This Earth Lightly. p.78-79