Henry WangWork
All work

The Robie House

Emergy and resource-flow analysis across city, house and fireplace

The Robie House
Type
Systems analysis
Where
University of Pennsylvania, with Yuchen He, Sonakshi Sharma and Gabriela Toscano
Tools
Emergy accounting, resource-flow diagrams

A study of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House read through resource flows at three scales: the urban land of Chicago, the house as shelter, and the fireplace as the setting for daily activities. Energy, food and water inputs are traced through the site, the construction and thermal mass of the house are quantified in an emergy summary, and existing and future flow diagrams compare how the building and its hearth could be supplied more sustainably.

Site: urban land

Chicago, urban location and organization
Chicago, urban location and organization
Urban assets, resource flows and renewable resources
Urban assets, resource flows and renewable resources
Urban diagram, existing and future
Urban diagram, existing and future

Shelter: house

Background and plans
Background and plans
Construction, thermal mass and emergy summary
Construction, thermal mass and emergy summary
Concentrated flows, existing and future
Concentrated flows, existing and future

Setting: activities

The fireplace: lineage, function and taxonomy
The fireplace: lineage, function and taxonomy
Fireplace emergy, existing and future
Fireplace emergy, existing and future