Superlight

Climate change, new materials and restricted land use have given fresh impetus to finding lightweight solutions. Ever since the Industrial Revolution architects have sought to liberate our houses from their solid foundations and one of the most powerful design philosophies of recent years has been Glenn Murcutt’s dictum that buildings should ‘touch the earth lightly’. The projects here combine two strands of thinking: that lightweight buildings can weigh less and have minimal impact on their environments, and that this lightness – visually, materially, ecologically – can create beautiful, ethereal houses. ‘Superlight’ living can offer both new, natural modes of living and greater communion with our surroundings.