Victorian modular housing design and construction outfit Archiblox has been named on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies of 2016.

Archiblox is the only Australian architecture firm to make the list, placing third in the Top Ten Companies by Sector for Architecture behind Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) at number two and Tokyo’s Sannaa and number one.

It was Archiblox’s now-famous Carbon Positive House (CPH) that earned the team their Fast Company listing, the US tech-business magazine was most impressed with CPH’s environmental sustainability credentials and its speed of construction.

Also on the list is London-based architecture collective, Assemble who stunned the global art community last December to win the 2015 Turner Prize – Europe’s most prestigious contemporary visual art award.

Sanaa were the only architecture team to make Fast Company’s World's 50 Most Innovative Companies 2016, coming in at number 30 companies like Buzz Feed, Facebook and Spotify.

ABOUT CARBON POSITIVE HOUSE BY ARCHIBLOX

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Carbon Positive House by ArchiBlox was the winner of the hotly-contested Single Dwelling (New) Category prize at the 2015 Sustainability Awards.

The building was placed first ahead of a strong field of eight finalists and a record number of entries. Scroll to the bottom to see comments on this ground breaking project from our expert judges.

ArchiBlox's Carbon Positive House is the world's first prefabricated carbon positive house. The CPH makes significant contributions by addressing the increasing levels of carbon emissions and the high levels of embodied energy that come with the construction of a standard home. The house has moved beyond carbon zero by making additional positive or net export contributions by producing more energy on site (or through affiliated schemes), than the building requires.

The CPH stretches the boundaries of sustainable living allowing occupants to maintain their daily lifestyle whilst they minimise their footprint on the earth.

The CPH maximises passive design strategies and enhances the use of environmental elements such as wind and solar energy to manage a comfortable interior without the use of non-renewable energy sources.

Adjustable joinery provides flexibility, allowing spaces to expand or contract as required.

Loft areas create escape nooks or additionally sleeping spaces.

Living areas are oriented north and are designed to function as the house's conservatory, the perfect place to keep herbs and veggies.

KEY INTIATIVES

In ground Cool Tubes to help with cooling Sliding Edible Garden Walls to block sun penetration
Green Roof for added thermal insulation
The Buffer Zone "The lungs of the house" & "Food Basket" separates the external environment
Healthy Materials High Grade sustainable materials and formaldehyde and VOC free an airtight building envelope improves sound protection and saves energy
Hard wired data lines to reduce electromagnetic radiation
The Carbon Positive House has deliberately been designed to be cost effective by carefully planning and considering the application of Passive Solar Heating, Passive Cooling, Ventilation, Appliances Selection and Material Specification
External shading devices are used to filter the harsh solar radiation in summer and then can be retracted in winter to keep the house warmer
Cross flow ventilation is enhanced with in-ground cool tubes that will pull air in from the floor in the south side of the house and purge through the clerestory (high) windows to the north side of the house essentially enhancing the air and creating a cool draft
Buffer zone within the house separates the external environment from the internal, giving its occupants more control. This space, designed to face north, blocks the harsh summer sun before the radiation enters into the interior. It captures, though, the winter sun warming up the air, similar to a radiator, and drawing it back within the house.
Double glazed and thermally broken windows with drought proof seals
Design Embodied Carbon 440 kg CO2e per year per Occupant
Saving of 71% Design Operational Carbon -1,100 kg CO2e per year per Occupant
Saving of 141% Total Design -659kg CO2e per year per Occupant
Saving of 116% Over its life span

It is expected this building will emit 1,165 tCO2e less than average or standard buildings providing the same functionality.

This is equivalent to:

6,989 native Australian trees planted
307 cars taken off the road
155 zero energy Australian homes for one year
35,000,000 balloons of CO2 gas removed from the atmosphere

Jury Citation

“In a time where "innovation" has become an overused term, this concept and demonstration sets out to truly buck the trend. This home looks to take into account all concerns facing today’s environmental concerns and to address them in an admirably coherent fashion.

“From a green roof that addresses thermal performance, stormwater runoff and biodiversity in one hit, to the project’s materiality and resource depletion that is addressed through prefabrication, life cycle analysis and certified material use, this is an exceptional project that shows sustainability can be delivered on all scales.”

The Most Innovative Companies of 2016: Top Companies by Sector - Architecture

01 SANAA
For upping the ante on architectural biomimicry

02 Office For Metropolitan Architecture
For democratizing high design

03 Archiblox
For making the sustainable home a reality

04 Tengbom
For developing the future of architecture in real time

05 Ingenhoven Architects
For marrying the man-made with the natural

06 Assemble
For seeing opportunities for good design everywhere--from gas stations to playgrounds

07 Gerber Architeckten
For thinking on its feet in the Middle East

08 Kasita
For upgrading the "mobile" home

09 Ateliers Jean Nouvel
For putting the Louvre in Abu Dhabi

10 Lake | Flato
For being a leader in architecture's sustainability evolution

Nathan Johnson

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