Architecture
Our Design Philosophy
Building or renovating your home is one of the largest investment you will make in your life-time. Buildings are likely to last 60+ years, and what you build now will be standing for a long time. Our thinking is - buildings built today need to be future ready today. That means low energy requirements, naturally comfortable, and flexible enough to adopt to changing uses. We specialise in design you will love living in.
Small and Flexible
Before design even starts, we establish your brief. We are big advocates for living large in small spaces. Australian homes are getting ever larger, and blocks getting smaller. We focus on many areas, including:
Compact floor plans. Less resources to build, less area to heat and cool, less cost to build.
Flexible spaces - design areas for multiples uses and changes over time.
Careful consideration of spaces, what does having three living areas provide that you cannot do in two?
Reduced wet areas. Some modern houses can have five toilets. Has anyone considered cleaning toe
Reduce circulation areas. Is a hallway behind a hallway the best use of space?
Incorporate features to help small floorplans feel large - view corridors / sight lines, open plan areas, connection to outdoors
Solar Passive / Solar Active
We use solar passive design principles (ESD) as guiding elements in all designs. We believe that some aspects of passive design can be pushed even further - back into an active role. The analogy and a sailing boat vs a power boat is a good one here - we like designs that optimise natural heating, but with some owner input needed.
North eaves do a pretty good job of shading in summer and allowing winter solar gain - this is set and forget, so great for owners who don’t want to adjust elements on their home (the power boat). Having no eaves means you can maximise winter solar gain by not having fixed shading, and windows can be protected by screens that are installed for summer (the sail boat). The active option often gives much better overall outcomes with some owner input and control.
High Performance Thermal Envelope
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Materials / Appliances
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Power Up
All houses use energy, by selecting all electric appliances (reverse cycle heat pump for space heating and cooling, heat pumps for water heating and induction for cooking) you can capitalise on solar PV generation, and also benefit from the grid de-carbonising over time. Installing gas burning appliances doesn’t really make sense anymore, committing to burning fossil fuels for energy is not a proposition we support. The health impacts of burning gas in your house is also really bad for occupant health.
Liveability
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+ Plug-ins
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