Sustainable House Day, Watson ACT

 

Description and Special Features   This is a House of the Future. Designed to harness the climate in order to minimise energy use and to maximise light and space. Seamless integration of indoor and outdoor living spaces is fundamental to all Strine houses.  

 It uses insulated precast concrete panels, avoiding the increasing shortage of bricklayers and providing unbeatable thermal insulation. Precast panels are rapidly erected and simple to deconstruct and recycle. High internal mass and concrete ground slab provide unbeatable heat retention in winter and ‘coolness’ storage in summer.  

Photovoltaic cells on the north-facing roof minimise electricity costs, whilst solar chimneys relieve the house of heat in summer by exhausting hot air out of the house at night negating the need for air conditioning.  

Shade screens to the north faces are multiseasonal in their function. Fitted with a unique hinge system, the shades can be adjusted to preclude summer sun from entering the house, allow winter sun through the windows, or swung low to provide complete window shading and full internal privacy. 

  Ric, the architect believes that every house is a castle; the defenses of this one lie along the street frontage, provided by a walled entrance and low number of westerly windows. A westerly bio-wall—planting against a full wall mesh—achieves added cooling from the hot late summer sun, and is an attractive addition to the entrance.
 
A water feature in the northern courtyard adds an additional cooling element.

Complex pavilion roofs feed into a rainwater tank to meet the purpose designed sustainable garden needs     This is a quintessentially Australian design that blends the ethos of Balinese spaces and early Australian Homesteads, The linked pavilions create highly functional living spaces that flow to a beautiful northern courtyard.