A house is an environmental filter:

The statement, a house as an environmental filter, is complicated. This is because of the broadness of the term environmental. Glen Murcutt’s, Marika-Alderton House, is an example of an environmental filter. It demonstrates vernacular qualities in response to the cultural, social and physical contexts. The house is designed to interact with its surroundings in all cases; it is both practical and efficient, in response to the design brief offered to Glen Murcutt.