The increasing restrictions in coming building codes regarding energy consumption in housing generate a need to rethink the building design as well as the building process. This paper discusses the need to change/challenge the way structures are conceived in order to accommodate new legislative demands regarding energy consumption. More often than not sustainable aspects like the need for reduced energy consumption are implemented late in the design process. This paper investigates the affect of incorporating aspects like solar heat gain and energy consumption in the initial concept. With the right approach and tools, integrating sustainable thinking could/should produce new architectural layouts as well as new ways of designing houses. The emphasis of this paper is on the latter and will consider the implications that the challenging new demands have on contemporary architecture, exemplified with a case study. The case study evaluates different types of design principles of a typical Danish house, especially with respect to choices of materials etc. As the conclusion of this paper will show, unconventional thinking can negate this effect and even bring about new ways of working with materials and design as such.