The Canteen House designed by endemic architecture is a small agriculture housing concept that saves water in a bladder skin for use during dry periods. The home’s exterior is split into quadrants which are lined with a rubberized bladder that can store storm water runoff during the wet season. Each section can hold 17,000 gallons for use when irrigation water is difficult to come by. The home is connected to an irrigation system to distribute the water directly from its storage skin. With a total of 36,000 gallons of storage the architects estimate that the system can irrigate one acre of land for six weeks. The distribution of the water as well as type of crop, soil and weather make the estimate more of an art than science. Using rain collection to feed its water collection system the structures swelling and contracting creates a visual representation of the overall environmental conditions.
The home is passively cooled by scooping prevailing breezes from any direction. Solar heating is complimented with a ground source heating system. The home is intended to support immigrant shelter, improving the lives of agriculture workers while supplying resources for the land they support.
The design won the Single Family category in the 2011 d3 Housing of Tomorrow competition.