25 Lanark Street
East Brunswick
Victoria 3057
tel: 03 9386 3700

Solar efficient house at Lower Plenty (Victoria)

This adventurous solar efficient home was designed Sunpower Design as a family home for a couple with young children, living on the fringes of the city. The site faces north and the home is nestled into the hillside on approx. 1 acre. The home was designed with a huge curved wall providing an anchor for the building and very effective thermal mass. The wall divides public from private areas. The living rooms radiate from a central court-yard which punches light into the centre of the home, and gives an indoor/ outdoor feel to these rooms.

The design utilizes a wide range of building materials. The walls are cypress pine cladding, rendered blockwork, rendered fibre cement sheet and zinc alum with copper trim and Castlemaine stone. The extensive double glazed cedar windows are a major feature of the home.

Thermally the home performs extremely well with minimal additional winter heating, a slow combustion wood heater and a Five Star gas wall furnace are installed. The slow combustion heater also acts as an open fireplace and heat shifters move heat from the family room to the rear south facing rooms.

The home has received a Five Star Rating for Energy Efficiency and performs extremely well thermally.

Lightfittings are all energy efficient with compact flourescent globes or low voltage fittings. Appliances are all energy efficient:

All external doors are draftproofed and windows sealed with Scotch V weatherstrip. All fans are Mistral Expressaire with backdraft inhibitor.

The courtyard is shaded by a large sailcloth screen in summer months which can be removed in winter to allow maximum winter sun into the living areas. The north facing family room also has an adjustable shading device which can be dismantled in winter. The Rumpus room french doors and the sliding doors to the dining room have been designed with their own external awning to provide an attractive shading medium. Carefully planned landscaping provides shading to west facing windows as well as the awning provided.

The building is insulated with R 1.5 wool batts in the walls, R3.O loose wool fill in the ceilings and styrene in the cavity of the curved brick wall.

The building is essentially a lightweight structure with a unique rendered finish to the fibre cement sheet to give the feel of masonry. The composite nature of the structure was lightweight and affordable to build despite the intricate design.