How green is my garden house?
This home features an indoor-outdoor garden room at its heart while comprehensive green thinking also informs the character residence
Designed by Strachan Group Architects (SGA)
Brief
This is a new home for a professional couple moving into retirement.
High priority has been given to accessibility and live-ability within the house and to its relationship with the developing gardens.
The owners have a long history with the property, having owned the land and lived and worked on the adjacent site for the past 25+ years.
They are avid gardeners and the site had formed part of the extensive gardens they have tended over the last quarter century.
Design response
The design response respects this heritage and conceptually plays with the tensions of solid and void, arranged beneath a sheltering draped roof.
Integrating principles of sustainability and accessibility, the home aims to allow the owners to mitigate health challenges and maintain their independence and a high quality of life for as long as possible.
Two stained cedar clad building blocks defining public (kitchen, dining, living spaces) & private (bedrooms & service spaces) are linked by a voluminous ‘garden room’.
Lining treatments emphasise the ambiguity of this indoor-outdoor space and connections to the garden and landscape.
The cedar lined roof plane is 'draped' over the whole, unifying the timber blocks, garden room and terrace spaces.
Sustainability statement
Strategy/big picture
Sustainable design is a core value of SGA’s design ethos and is a key driver for every project, regardless of programme or budget.
Key considerations include, orientation for passive solar design and ventilation, insulation levels, fenestration size & sun shading, material selection.
Here, the owners were very interested in building technologies and systems to take advantage of available resources.
Technology
Considerable co-ordination was required to integrate the smart home system seamlessly into the design of the home.
Designed by Revolve Energy, a customised app was developed to control numerous systems in the building including:
- Solar generation and battery storage.
- Hydronic underfloor and space heating & heat pump energy sources.
- KNX lighting, fans and extracts (timed and on motion sensors).
- Motorised opening windows and louvres on weather sensors.
- Water tank storage level sensor.
- Access control and keypads to entries and external gates.
- Security and fire alarms.
Materials
The use of high energy materials is considered only where there are considerable benefits in operational energy and/or durability.
Concrete has been used in ground floors for its thermal mass properties to assist in reducing operational energy costs.
The superstructure of the building is timber framed using locally grown pine.
The timber structure is augmented with steel (high recycled content) only where necessary.
All timbers have FSC or other certification and include pine, cedar, Accoya decking and exterior structural members.
Insulation is generally high-density fiberglass (high R-value & 80% recycled content).
Finishes are considered in terms of their low toxicity and/or environmental certifications.
Construction waste management
- Recycling and re-use of construction waste managed by Green Gorilla.
Site and landscape
- Landscaping includes food gardens and composting facilities.
Water
- 25,000L in-ground retention tanks (x2) provide garden irrigation and supplement non-potable uses in the house.
Health and wellbeing
- Universal Design & Lifemark principles incorporated throughout.
Credit list
Kitchen designer
Additional interior design
Surveyor
Planning consultant and civil engineer
Geotech engineer (site)
Renewable energy systems integrator
Cladding
Louvre system
Rugs
General heating
Control systems
Dining table/chairs
Awards
Builder
Kitchen joinery, bathroom joinery and built-in cabinetry manufacturer
Landscape design and planting
Quantity surveyor
Geotech engineer (report)
Structural engineer
Mechanical consultant
Roof
Paint
Feature light fittings
Living area furniture
Other
Photography
Helpful links
Windows and doors
Hardware
Pools and spas
Home builder
Roofing
Heating
Flooring
Taps and sin ks
Story by: Trendsideas
Home kitchen bathroom commercial design
Centre of attention
Building on a fine pedigree
Natural connections