Yesterday was Sustainable House Day, and I had the privilege of seeing inside one inspirational design in Brisbane.
Sustainable House Day (www.sustainablehouseday.com) has been operating for over ten years, and gives people the opportunity to visit and explore sustainable homes and chat with homeowners and designers about their design. The idea is to encourage conversation and inspiration for visitors so that they can learn more about environmentally healthy homes, and put some of the features they learn about into their own homes.
The home I visited was a pavillion addition to an existing Queenslander home in Brisbane. It was a really clever design, by aardvarc (www.aardvarc.com.au), that has used innovative techniques to produce a space that the owners use constantly, and give their highest praise by saying “it just WORKS!”. The architect was keen to put these sustainable principals into practice, and found a willing client in his brother-in-law, Gary, who was keen to try something different.
The building sits behind the home, and faces north to the home. It captures loads of winter sun, but still has privacy due to its position in the back garden. The feeling I got from being in the building was one of calm and comfort. From chatting with the owner, Gary, it seems that along with lots of relaxing in the new space, there was also a lot of fun and conversation with friends and family around the firepit, the barbecue and the bar.
The building, nicknamed The Living Room, is essentially a one-roomed buiding comprising a living area with kitchenette/bar. It then had three separate external areas – one housing a bathroom, one for the barbecue, and one large additional living area that could be completely opened up to the internal area to create a seamless space.
The grey concrete, green mosaics tiles and natural wood finishes create a relaxing, tropical feel to the whole space. As the Living Room opened out so extensively to the surrounding garden, the palms and lush succulent plantings further enhanced this tropical feel.
There were many sustainable features in the Living Room, (head over here to see a list) but my favourites were:
The Green Roof. I’ve seen many of these on shows such as Grand Designs and in magazines, but to see one working in real life, being watered by re-captured rain-water, was a treat. Back from the green roof edge, there is even a space for the owners to sit on the roof and admire the views of Brisbane’s hills, alongside their roof gnome, of course.
The use of Polished Concrete. The concrete walls and floors were covered with a layer of polished hand seeked quartz. The day I visited was a warm spring day, and the temperature in the Living Room was just perfect for relaxing (slightly cooler than in the direct sun). As the temperature increases, the Living Room retains this comfortable cool temperature due to the insulation provided by the concrete and green roof, and due to the capturing of the cool breezes flowing from the garden. Gary said that they had measured the temperature on a hot summer’s day, and it was 5 degrees cooler in the Living Room than in the shade outside. In winter, all this concrete traps the heat from the winter sun, and manages to keep the Living Room comfortably warm throughout the day and well into the night.
Glazing. Even through the room was quite small, it had such a generous open feel due to the use of large sliding doors, some even moving right out of sight as they opened. The simple design of the doors meant that even if they were closed, this feeling would not have been lost.
The Living Room was a great example of what the Energy Efficiency Measures in the National Construction Code are aiming to achieve: a comfortable home that uses no energy to cool in summer or heat in winter, because the clever design is able to achieve thermal comfort without artifical heating or cooling being used.