De Rijke’s Sliding House is a linear building of apparent simplicity, which is sliced into three programmes: house, garage and annexe. The separated forms are joined by a 20-ton mobile roof/wall enclosure that traverses the site, creating combinations of enclosure, insulation, open-air living and framed views.
The Sliding House is an important and original contribution to the development of a bioclimatic architecture with high aesthetic impact. The semi-automated sliding shell moves insulation over or alongside the house in response to the seasons, providing protection tailored for local climatic conditions, and saving both heating and cooling energy. There is continuous post-occupancy energy monitoring by Aedas Research, which is using the house as a case study in developing a new online tool called CarbonBuzz, for measuring energy consumption in buildings. One of the main reasons for their choosing the Sliding House was to study the unique relationship between user and insulated sliding shell, the performance of which is affected by user choice.
The building won and was shortlisted for numerous awards: winner, RIBA East Award (2009); winner, Grand Designs Awards ‘Best New-Build’, and ‘Home of the Year’ (2009); highly commended, World Architecture Festival Awards ‘House’ category (2009); shortlisted, D&AD Awards Environmental Design category (nominated for Yellow Pencil Award) (2009); shortlisted, The Wood Awards ‘Private’ category (2009). It received extensive review and publicity worldwide: a+a (China, 2009); Archicree (France, 2009); The Architectural Review/AR (UK, 2009); Architektura (Poland, 2009); Before + After (Taiwan, 2009); C3 (Korea, 2009); Dagens Industri Weekend (Sweden, 2009); De Architect (Netherlands, 2009); DETAIL (Germany, 2009); Elemente (Canada, 2009); Het Hout Blad (Slovenia, 2009); Indian Architect & Builder/IA&B (India, 2009); Interior Design China Magazine (China, 2009); Interni (Russia, 2009); Mark (International, 2009); Case da Abitare (Italy, 2010); Umran (Saudi Arabia, 2012); Avivre (France, 2012); and Dezeen Book of Ideas (2012).