Science and Emotion

Much has been written about Upside Down Akubra House and as award season rolls around much more will be.

Conceptually, it’s an intriguing story. A robust, unadorned off-grid house in a bull paddock near Tamworth that wears its sustainability agenda on its sleeve – already a dichotomy, given the environmental impacts of the cattle farming industry. An unapologetically rectilinear house with a boxy central utilities core topped by a massive, pitched, rainwater-harvesting roof whose design is inspired by an inverted oval hat. A home conceived during drought around rain for a changing climate that’s already extreme in this region.

Talk with architect and former Arup engineer Alex Symes and his passion for the ideas, systems and science that underpin the design is infectious. If the devil is in the detail, so too is the divinity. Functionality and performance are his central drivers. The square floor plan with a