Goldsmith Street is a Passivhaus and high-density social housing scheme by Mikhail Riches in Norwich, England, which is shortlisted for this year's Stirling Prize.
Located near the city centre, the housing development comprises 105 terraced dwellings designed to be an affordable high-density alternative to apartment blocks.
Each home faces south to maximise solar gain and is designed by Mikhail Riches with practical detailing that ensures that it is low energy.

"Our priority was to design a passive solar scheme in order to minimise fuel bills for residents," explained the studios founders Annalie Riches and David Mikhail. "We also wanted to put back streets in an area of Norwich that had lost them," they told Dezeen.
"The scheme faces windows and habitable rooms south to make the most of winter solar gain and is shaded in the summer."
Mikhail Riches won a competition to design Goldsmith Street in 2008, with a proposal that imagined streets rather than the apartment blocks proposed by many other entrants.
The scheme comprises seven terraced blocks arranged in four lines, containing a total of 45 houses and 60 flats, within an area of less than one hectare.

While the number of dwellings within the development was dictated by the brief, it was the studio's desire to create a "passive solar scheme" that led it to design terraces. The buildings needed to be low-rise to prevent overshadowing.
To achieve this while meeting the density of ...