The Muse in north London is an energy efficient, solar, family home started as a self-build in 2002. It is one of the most 'rounded' ecological buildings in the UK, built close to Passivhaus ecological and energy saving standards and also built as a wildlife sanctuary and an oasis for neighbouring taller buildings to look down upon. Design and construction began before Justin Bere was fully aware of the Passivhaus standard being developed in Germany at the time, but it has been designed to an almost identical specification. The Muse firmly sets the standard for future housing with an apparently effortless amalgamation of its many and varied environmentally responsible solutions with its beautiful forms. The Muse's ecological features include: a 3000 litre underground rainwater storage tank for supplying the wcs and the garden; 50cm or 20" thick super-insulated walls (11" insulation); low CO2 concrete foundations and first floor slab (made with ground granulated blast furnace slag to replace most of the cement) provide thermal mass for stable temperatures and natural summer cooling effect; heat recovery ventilation throughout, uses just 70watts of power to provide ample ventilation whilst saving 95% of the winter heat that would otherwise be lost by opening windows; triple glazed windows throughout, including some German Passivhaus; very good airtightness; whole house water filtration for bathing as well as drinking; solar thermal hot water heating with sufficient panels to dump excess heat into an 11m (36')long swimming pool in the summer, so there can be enough panels as a result to heat a much larger proportion of hot water in winter months than normally possible. Water will be treated ecologically (without chlorine) and waste water from the pool will be supplied to the rainwater tank and recycled for use in lavatories and the roof gardens if necessary. As the project is an on-going self build and currently houses the practice's office. The striking design with four green roofs featuring native meadow, coppice and thicket habitats have been widely published nationally and internationally in newspapers, magazines (including National Geographic), text books, press, government and local authority publications, statutory authority publications etc.