Maui House, a Resilient Refuge

On the lush green slopes of Haiku, in the rainiest and most verdant part of Maui, Hawaii Off Grid Architecture & Engineering has designed a new home that translates its mission into architecture: to live in harmony with the ʻĀina — the “land that nourishes,” the sacred and vital heart of the Hawaiian archipelago.

Led by David Sellers — who was building zero-impact homes long before the climate crisis became part of the global conversation — the studio has created a simple house, made of wood and filled with light, capable of producing more energy than it consumes and built to withstand Maui’s rainy and windy climate. The sculpted roof catches sunlight while shielding the home from the trade winds, and the timber structure stores CO₂ like a small natural reservoir. It’s a clear example of practical tropical wisdom: technology and passive solutions that work together to turn the house into a tiny, self-sustaining ecosystem.

Interview with David Sellers, Principal Architect of Hawaii Off Grid Architecture & Engineering

To what extent have you integrated local materials or references to Hawaiian building traditions in the design?

For this particular build, we were on a tight budget and timeline. We contemplated utilizing our Surf Block product, but it wasn’t ready in time to meet the project’s schedule. We’ve experimented with local lumber, but without a lumber industry here in Hawai‘i it takes lots of time and costs more than materials shipped in. That said, incorporating Hawaiian building traditions and locally sourced materials remains a priority for us. Without an industry here that produces local materials, we have shifted to recycling waste into building blocks by turning surfboard manufacturing waste and turning it into insulated Compost Concrete Forms, we call Surf Blocks. Currently we are building Hawaii's first Mass Timber building so we can maximize material use and only ship exactly what we need with no cut off waste to go into our landfill.  Surprisingly, when we calculate the carbon given the majority of the shipping is by ship it has a lower carbon footprint compared to trucking a similar distance on the mainland. This home represents what we feel is a Hawaiian vernacular in that is a relatively small home that is part of the landscape, and the form responds and is inspired by the elements. When we look at the history of Hawaiian architecture, pre-contact forms were simple and the sizes modest compared to today's average square foot size for a typical American home.  By keeping it small, we limit the disturbance to the land.  We require fewer materials that put less stress on the earth.  A true Hawaiian-inspired architecture is one that respects and takes care of the land. In Hawaiian, A'ina is a fundamental concept representing not just the physical land but also a deep connection to the land , the ocean and all of nature. When a building has little to no carbon footprint and its design is responsive to its exact place and time it begins to make that connection with all of nature

How did the climate and landscape of Maui influence your design choices?

As with many of our projects, we encountered a familiar contradiction: the interplay between topography, views, sun, and wind. Each of these natural forces presents its own challenge, and balancing them became the primary driver of the home’s form. The design is a direct response to these competing conditions, shaped to respect and engage with the surrounding environment rather than resist it.

How did you work on the building’s orientation to maximize natural light and protect the spaces from sun and rain?

In order to address the tensions between sun, wind, and views, we oriented the home along an East–West axis, optimizing it for both passive and active solar strategies. While this orientation enhances energy efficiency and natural light, it also exposes the home to strong trade winds and wind-driven rain, which are shaped by the island’s unique geography. As a result, the roof form evolved into something less conventional-shaped not just for aesthetics but as a functional response to these environmental pressures.

Which elements of the project do you feel create the most direct connection to the landscape and to the concept of ʻĀina?

The house has a slim profile and a small footprint, with expansive openings to the North that frame panoramic ocean views. This allows the occupants to feel fully immersed in the surrounding landscape, even when inside. One of the more poetic gestures is the twisted ridge of the roof, which creates what we think of as “built topography.” It breaks from traditional roof forms and instead emerges from the land itself, reflecting and responding to the powerful natural forces that shape life in Hawaiʻi. Because it is off grid and not producing pollution to operate it respects the land and does not disturb or influence the relationship between the air, the land and the sea.

What was the guiding idea behind the roof’s distinctive shape?

The roof form was synthesized from the convergence of natural forces—sunlight, wind, rain, and topography. We began with a standard gable, as one often does when working within budget constraints. But as we refined the design, the form began to shift, responding to wind direction and the need for protection. The result is a roof that is both sculptural and strategic, born from necessity but elevated by intention.  The roof makes one slight move to buffer the house from the prevailing wind.  You can think of it as when you have to walk in the rain without an umbrella. Your body twists slightly to shield yourself.  That is what the roof is essentially doing by skewing he ridge, the roof responds to its particular environment in its particular place. 

How does this project fit into David Sellers’ journey toward carbon-negative architecture?

Eighty percent of a building’s lifetime carbon emissions typically come from its daily operations. This home, by being fully off-grid, eliminates that operational footprint. That means 80% of the emissions normally produced over time are essentially erased. For us, architecture is where art and science converge. But we believe there's now a third essential layer: time—the urgency of this moment in our planet’s history. We’re facing escalating climate events that threaten the very systems that sustain life. This home represents a small but significant intervention—one that we hope inspires replication and scale.
Each off-grid building is like a living organism: it harvests sunlight and rainwater, stores these resources, and releases them daily—much like a plant absorbs sunlight and water and releases oxygen. It's a kind of performance-based biophilia. I sometimes imagine that, in the event of a cataclysmic event that wipes out humanity, these buildings might endure. That some distant species could one day visit Earth, discover one of our homes, and find it still functioning—still collecting sunlight, still producing water and power. It might sound like science fiction, but the fact that these buildings will continue to perform long after I’m gone brings me real comfort.

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