We’re entering a new age, and it’s time for architecture to evolve accordingly. The same old static structures made with environmentally harmful materials and processes aren’t going to cut it anymore. We need our built environments to be more accessible, more equitable, and exist in greater harmony with nature. That can look like all sorts of different things, of course, tailored to specific environments, cultures, and uses.

Koichi Takada’s Sunflower House demonstrates a smarter way to build single-family dwellings in Italy’s sunny Mediterranean climate. It also represents an imaginative update to the beloved Bauhaus school of design, 100 years later. Set in Le Marche, an area of Umbria known for its vast fields of sunflowers, Sunflower House strives to harness the power of the sun using a fun rotating design and a solar roof that looks like a jaunty cap.
“Its roof and each floor rotate on sensors for maximum sun exposure or for optimal performance, and the user conforms to maximize or minimize the heat gain, especially in the extreme heat conditions recently experienced in the Mediterranean climate,” Takada says. “There is minimum intervention on the ground so the earth has room for other activities, yet the sunflower magically nods its head to bathe in the light. The Italian word girasole literally means ‘turn to the sun’. The circular structure of Sunflower House rotates around a central ‘stem’ to ...