How green is my garden house?

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.

Story by: Trendsideas