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Ultimately sustainable

Built as a show home for sustainable building practices, every aspect of this house is designed with conservation and the environment in mind

Hallway leading to dining area inside sustainable home architecture, ceiling, daylighting, floor, flooring, hardwood, home, house, interior design, kitchen, laminate flooring, living room, real estate, room, wood, wood flooring, gray
Hallway leading to dining area inside sustainable home

When you think sustainable housing, what comes to mind? For many it may be images of a building created entirely from mud bricks, while for others it could be an existing house with costly solar panels installed on the roof.

The house on these pages was created in an effort to quell these kinds of assumptions about sustainable housing. The Sustainable Homes Initiative sponsored and created a series of houses throughout Queensland, in an effort to demonstrate to the public that sustainable housing can be accessible, affordable and attractive. This house in Brisbane was created in association with the Australian Green Development Forum and builders Natural Lifestyle Homes. Bligh Voller Nield were the architects responsible for bringing the idea to reality. Project director Shane Thompson says the house was designed using readily available materials, and created to a modest budget.

"The Brisbane sustainable home meets the needs of an average family of two working parents and three children. There are no clever, expensive gadgets just common-sense initiatives and careful choices when it comes to materials and positioning, combined with contemporary aesthetics."

The house is located on a native bushland site in a new estate that was developed in an ecologically sensitive manner. The house is elevated to allow the natural flow of groundwater through the site. Thompson says this also minimises the amount of excavation required and helps to preserve the site's biodiversity.

"The house is two-storeyed, which helps reduce its footprint. Concrete pier footings and steel posts support the main floor frames. Renewable plantation pine is used for the framing; this is sheeted and insulated with QuiknTuff, a blend of recycled concrete and recycled polystyrene."


Exterior view of sustainable home built by Natural architecture, cottage, home, house, outdoor structure, plant, real estate, tree, black, white
Exterior view of sustainable home built by Natural Lifestyle Homes

The finish on this exterior surface is a textured render, with integrated colour made from natural pigmentation. The upper level, shaded by the roof overhang, is clad in plywood. Window frames are made from plantation timber.

The interiors of the house are designed with Brisbane's hot and humid climate in mind. All commonly used rooms have windows on two sides to promote air circulation. On the upper floor, a large outdoor room adjoins the open-plan living, dining and kitchen area. Bifolding doors mean this area can be closed off if required, and screens around the edges provide protection from insects. Thompson says air flow is a huge part of making this house ecologically sustainable.

"In the hotter months, hot air rises and travels through vents in the ceilings, then out of louvred vents on the roof. In the winter, the louvres are closed, and hot air circulates throughout the house via solar-powered fans, instead of being trapped in the roof space. By using this natural phenomenon, called the stack effect, to promote air circulation, we avoid relying on artificial air conditioning or heating," he says.

Heating and cooling is also provided through the thermal mass of a concrete wall in the stairwell, with a void cavity. The wall is positioned to retain the sun's heat in the winter, while cool air radiates from the cavity in summer.

"The electricity the house uses is balanced by solar panels on the roof, which supply power directly to the national grid, giving the homeowner credits. Along with low energy rating appliances and lighting, the house gains a net power bill of zero."

Floor plan for sustainable home built by Natural architecture, area, diagram, elevation, floor plan, mixed use, neighbourhood, plan, real estate, residential area, suburb, urban design, white
Floor plan for sustainable home built by Natural Lifestyle Homes

This, combined with the inclusion of four water tanks, plumbed and filtered to supply every outlet in the house, means the building can be self-sufficient.

Aside from these conservation aspects, some universal design ideas have also been incorporated. The house provides easy access for a disabled or aged person, which means that if the residents wish, they can live there for a lifetime.

Thompson says the house features many environmentally sustainable methods but it is not necessary for potential homeowners or those with renovation projects to replicate the building as a whole.

"The hope is that architects, builders and homeowners can see how sustainability can be the accumulated effect of many little, yet smart decisions, not necessarily the product of large amounts of money or token gestures, and that people will take away at least some small method or idea that applies to their project, and use it."

Credit list

Interior designer
Hayley Sainsbury, Bligh Voller Nield
Driveway
Recycled aggregate concrete by Alec Fraser Group
Deck
Recycled plastic decking in red Modwood; raw-style Plantation Bamboo boards
Stairs
Recycled hardwood construction in Organoil finish
External walls
Recycled polystyrene and concrete QuiknTuff panels, rendered in Ecostyle Tuscani; Arrowroot by Porters, cross-hatched in Honeycombe Rockcote
Sunhoods
Colorbond steel in Bluescope Steel Shale grey, with Umber Organoil finish and recycled timber frame
Ceilings
Marine plywood soffits in Umber Woodlogic Organoil finish; raked plywood in Danish style Ecowoodoil finish; raked perforated plywood in Ecowoodoil finish
Walls
Framed plasterboard in Ecostyle Semi Gloss Dulux Whisper White; Marine plywood
Kitchen pendant
Cyprus pendant in Moonstone White
Builder
Natural Lifestyle Homes
Driveway deck
Recycled plastic decking, Marine Board
Bridge
Recycled hardwood decking in red Modwood; balustrades in recycled hardwood and stainless steel yacht fittings
External paving
Austral bricks
Timber above sill, balconies and western wall
Plywood Woodlogic; recycled hardwood in Umber Organoil finish
Roof
Custom Orb Colorbond steel in Bluescope Shale Grey
Doors and windows
Plantation timber Envirowood
Lighting
Planet Lighting
Flooring
Linoleum; bamboo

Story by: Camille Butler

02 May, 2008

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