The Museum of Outdoor Arts Element House is a modular building constructed from structurally insulated panels (SIPs) and designed to operate independently of public utilities by integrating passive systems and on-site energy-generation. The house functions as a guest house and visitor center for Star Axis, a nearby land art project by the artist Charles Ross. Using simple sustainable building practices to increase environmental performance, the building is stripped down to basic components.
The organization of the house is based on an additive geometric system of growth, expanding outward, one module after another. The chimney is displaced, from its traditional role as a central solid mass, to a decentralized field of vertical skylight openings and solar chimneys designed to cool the building. The chimney volumes feature remote-control operable windows for passive ventilation.
Exterior cladding is in raw-aluminum shingles with a small air gap between the shingles and structure. The continuous interlocking cladding works as a heat sink to distribute solar radiation over the entire surface of the house from the hot side to the cooler, shaded side, thereby reducing heat gain and the need for air conditioning.
