Those with a keen eye might have noticed that our Surrey Hills HIA Award Winning property as featured last week in the Melbourne Weekly has since had a landscaping makeover.

Not long after the home was completed, the owners presented us with the next challenge:

How can they landscape the front garden of their home while gracefully overcoming a 2.4m height differential between footpath and front door?

Front landscaping: How to disguise a steep slope

When given the brief to landscape the front garden of our 2008-09 HIA Award Winning home, there were two significant factors to address:

• Height differential of 2.4m from the street footpath to the front door
• Significant water run off that previously flowed towards the house

Front Landscaping: Before work commenced

The photo above shows the slope of the front garden prior to landscaping.

Note the former retaining walls that reinforced the sense of height and the significance of the slope. Needless to say, these older retaining walls had to go.

Front Landscaping: Detail of the retaining walls and timber steps during build

The photo above shows the landscaping mid-way through completion (as seen from the front porch looking up towards the pavement).

Note:

• The choice of the lowest point of the pavement as the entrance to the property. This enables the pathway to have the least height differential to overcome.
• The wide and long timber ‘landings’ whose dimensions give the illusion of a gentler incline than if regular ’steps’ were to be used.
• Positioning and orientation of the new, lower profile retaining walls that more closely followed the natural contours of the site and therefore minimised excavation. The added benefit of minimal excavation is that the site retains more natural permeability.

Front landscaping: After Design + Build completed

Almost finished!

The photo above shows the landscaping nearing completion (planting is still yet to done).

In particular, note the additional flat garden ‘court’ that extends the front deck area and creates a very usable play area for the children. Clever Design +Build of the retaining walls, allowed room for this very usable garden ‘extension’ while still leaving the area open and spacious.

We’ll be sure to give you an update once soft landscaping has been completed and plants have matured!

Front Landscaping: Conclusion

The brief for this difficult site was to Design + Build a beautiful landscaped garden that would somehow disguise a rather steep slope.

The combination of a number of factors helped us to create the illusion that the slope was gentler than it really was:

• Selection of lowest point where pavement meets property threshold for pathway access
• Use of long and wide timber ‘landings’ rather than traditional ’steps’
• Strategic positioning and orientation of new lower profile, retaining walls
• Creation of green ‘court’ areas to leave the garden feeling open and spacious

DESIGN + BUILD + LANDSCAPE
Yes – we also Design + Build landscapes!
Engage our sustainable Design + Build services today.

Related posts:

1. Pixel Building Melbourne: 5 architectural lessons to apply to your new home
2. Designing the Future: Melbourne Weekly Cover Story (Downloadable PDF)
3. Energy efficient house design: how much is each energy star really worth? (Free downloadable PDF)

Above: The Koedyk kids enjoy more than their 5 minutes of fame on the deck of our HIA Award Winning renovation – featured as the Cover Story in Melbourne Weekly and on the giant billboard of The Age building on Spencer Street.

In this week’s edition of ‘Melbourne Weekly’ magazine, Linley Wilkie interviewed our Designer and Sustainabililty Consultant, Ms Simone Schenkel, for the cover story ‘Designing the future’.

We have reproduced the article here with permission from Fairfax Media – for your convenience.

Designing the Future: Melbourne Weekly Cover Story

Three ways to read the article:

1) View online by clicking each image below to view a larger (readable) version:

Melbourne Weekly Cover Story: Designing the Future. Pages 26 & 27

Melbourne Weekly Cover Story: Designing the Future. Page 28

2) Download the article in PDF format by clicking the Melbourne Weekly Cover image below:

Download the Melbourne Weekly Article as PDF

3) Read the transcribed text in full here:

Creating sustainable housing is fast becoming a necessity rather than the feel-good option. Linley Wilkie takes a look at how locals are being proactive, explains some easy steps you can take now and predicts what’s in store for the future.

Remember a few years ago when the media took great pleasure in announcing green to be the new black? It was an exciting prospect that the green movement would be embraced by society at large, not just hippie tree-huggers.

How times have changed. Now (if you believe the fashion hype), camel is the new black, and “going green” is no longer just a catchphrase. It is fast becoming an essential way of Australian life.

Simone Schenkel has witnessed that firsthand, since moving to Melbourne three years ago from the more eco-savvy Germany. “What’s really encouraging is to talk to so many people who are seriously interested in building green and sustainability,” says Schenkel, designer and sustainability consultant for Brutal Art Design + Build. “What’s really promising, as well, is a lot of them know so much about it.”

Schenkel says there are many things that can be done around the house to increase its energy efficiency. One of the simplest is looking at your home’s thermal shell. “Imagine the house’s external walls as a continuous shell, and every little gap you have in this shell will result in heat loss, or the other way around in summer,” Schenkel says. “Try and seal as many of the gaps as you can.”

Think wall and ceiling vents, windows and doors. It’s also worth installing self-closing exhaust fans and chimney dampers or balloons to eliminate draughts.

Schenkel also suggests creating an air lock in your house’s entry area. “Try to introduce an extra door to close it off. In winter, the moment you open the front door the warm air gets sucked out and you have to start afresh. In summer it can be open all the time, but there should be a way in winter to close it off.”

Consider installing windows with a low U-value – a measure of how well the product prevents heat from escaping. The lower the U-value, the better. Schenkel says typical aluminium windows have a U-value of about seven, but good double-glazed windows have a U-value of between two and three.

Lighting continues to be a hot topic, particularly when it comes to downlights. Schenkel recommends avoiding downlights or installing a false ceiling if you must have them. ”Downlights always cause a problem, because standard versions get quite hot,” she says. “When you install them, the electrician has to cut a hole in the insulation, and that pretty much undoes all of the properties of the insulation. So go for low-energy downlights – [but] they are more expensive than the standard ones.”

Bryn Dellar, managing director of Energy Makeovers, says low-energy lighting has reached saturation point. “The next holy grail for lighting is the replacement of downlights,” he says. “There are now new LEDs that fit into the existing fitting and work with the existing transformer that have a nice warm light. The price has recently come down by 50 per cent, so the world is working hard to get LEDs as downlights.” That said, these lights are not quite ready for mass distribution.

Dellar recommends people visit the Essential Services Commission website (esc.vic.gov.au) to fully appreciate all the available options. “At the moment you’ve got weather sealing, glazing, lighting, shower heads and new fridges. For people who are interested, there’s a shopping list of activities they can look at on that website.”

And in the future? Dellar says there will be new eco-friendly alternatives available from next year, such as smart power boards and efficient televisions.

These are optional extras now, but there’s no doubting the introduction next year of mandatory six-star ratings for new homes and major renovations, plus mandatory disclosure of star ratings, will make home owners sit up and pay attention. Sustainable housing will soon have an impact on the lives of all Melburnians.

—-
Why ratings matter

From May 2011, all Australian houses on the market (for sale or lease) must disclose their energy-effiency rating. This wlll give potential buyers and renters an indication of greenhouse emissions and energy and water efficiency.

Legislation was introduced in the ACT ln 1999 to give houses a star rating from zero to 10. A subsequent Australian Bureau of Statistics report in 2007 found these ratings had a significant effect on house prices. According to the Brutal Art Design + Build website, the study found “if the energy performance of a house improves by one star level, on average, its market value will increase by about 3 per cent“.

“If star rating does equate to value, this is going to become a much bigger issue in the minds of householders.” says Bryn Delar from Energy Makeovers. “At the moment when you talk about energy, pollution, star rating and comfort, for most people star rating doesn’t rate with them.” He suggests now is the time for renovators to increase the rating of ther houses, so if they later sell, they can disclose a higher rating.

- Linkey Wilkie, The Melbourne Weekly

Cover Story

11 August 2010

CONSIDERING SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE?
Design the Future into your home!
Engage our sustainable Design + Build services today.

Related posts:

1. Energy efficient house design: how much is each energy star really worth? (Free downloadable PDF)
2. Does sustainable architecture pay off?
3. Pixel Building Melbourne: 5 architectural lessons to apply to your new home

At the recent State of Design Festival, we prepared a number of home energy cost calculators that helped festival attendees answer the question:

In this post, we’ll compare the energy cost savings for the same house finished to different energy star ratings.

Energy efficient house design: how much is each energy star worth? (PDF)

For the purpose of this exercise, we chose to use a typical suburban three bedroom home with double garage.

3 Star three bedroom home with double garage

Such homes are typical of existing unrenovated freestanding homes and we used the following home characteristics to come up with our baseline home that rated at 3 Stars:

• Wall construction method is Brick Veneer with no insulation
• Ceiling insulation is minimal (R 1.0)
• Sub-floor construction is Timber with no insulation
• Windows are single glazed aluminium

Increase energy efficiency

Next we chose to increase the energy efficiency of the house one star at a time (without changing floorplan) by altering only 4 variables:

• Wall construction method,
• Ceiling insulation,
• Subfloor construction, and
• Windows

Energy Cost Calculator

Using the FirstRate energy rating assessment tool, we can ascertain the Total Energy Usage per year of the different Star Rated versions of the home.

Once we have the annual energy costs, we can factor in the effects of inflation to understand how much each Star rated house will cost in energy consumption over a period of 7 years.

As can be seen in the graph above, over a period of 7 years, compared to the same floorplan 3 Star house:

• A 4.9 Star house will use 57% of the energy – a saving of around $10,000 in energy costs
• A 6.3 Star house will use 39% of the energy – a saving of around $15,000 in energy costs
• An 8.3 Star house will use 16% of the energy – a saving of around $20,000 in energy costs!

These figures are based on the assumption that Australian energy prices will simply rise with inflation at 3.5%.

Victoria earned a reprieve in July by the Australian Energy Regulator, however other states were not so lucky and were hit with electricity price increases from 5% in the Northern Territory to 13% in Queensland.

If energy prices do indeed soar beyond CPI, the energy efficiency of higher star rated houses will not only result in cost savings, but will lead to energy rating being a significant contributing factor to house values (providing house energy ratings to both buyers and renters is mandatory in the Australian Capital Territory).

Energy efficient house design: Conclusion

At the beginning of this article we posed the question:

“How much is each energy star really worth?”

When compared to a typical existing 3 Star suburban home, each additional star represents around a $5000 saving in energy costs over 7 years of home ownership.

These figures are based on energy prices increasing with inflation at 3.5% pa.

Download the Energy Efficient House Design in PDF format.

CONSIDERING SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE?
Design energy efficiency into your home!
Engage our sustainable Design + Build services today.

Related posts:

1. Designing the Future: Melbourne Weekly Cover Story (Downloadable PDF)
2. Does sustainable architecture pay off?
3. Sustainable Architecture Pillar 3: Insulation

Melburnians were given a treat this weekend, as 59 buildings around the city were opened to the public as part of Melbourne Open House 2010.

As far as Sustainable Architecture goes, the star attraction was Grocon’s Pixel Building – the first carbon neutral office building in Australia.

We took away 5 architectural lessons from the Pixel Building that you can apply to the Design + Build of your new home.

Pixel Building Melbourne: 5 architectural lessons to apply to your new home

Pixel Building - on Grocon's Carlton Brewery site

Grocon’s Pixel Building is certainly about to create Sustainable Architecture history as it attempts to become the first carbon positive building in the world- generating more energy on site than it uses.

We were fortunate enough to be guided through and talked through the Pixel Building by Grocon’s Carlton Brewery Development Site Manager, Mr David Waldren *.

Grocon Development Manager, Mr David Waldren, pointing out the tracking Photovoltaic (PV) Panel Array.

We left impressed and inspired and took away 5 architectural lessons from the Pixel Building that you too can apply to your Design + Build project.

1) Define the win

Pixel Building's definition of Carbon Neutral

Amongst several other environmental sustainability goals, Pixel was expressly designed to generate more energy than it uses.

2) Commit to the vision

Detail of the Living Edge Reed Bed and Pixel facade mounting

With such an audacious ‘win’ clearly defined, the challenge for Pixel’s designers was to ensure that all subsequent decisions were appropriately aligned. Already on a relatively small site commercially speaking, we found it noteworthy that valuable net lettable floorspace (usually one of the major determining factors in commercial building valuation) was sacrificed to allow for the pixel facade screening system and integrated ‘Living edge’ Reed Bed Irrigation/eave shading system.

3) Design for use

Adjustable floor vents - positioned exactly where occupants will sit

Pixel was designed not just for environmental ratings – but to be Grocon’s head office. As such, the use of office space and more specifically, the maximisation of office productivity was designed into the building from the start. One example was that the underfloor air ventilation system has strategically located adjustable vents – positioned exactly where people will sit once all the furniture is in place.

4) Dont forget the basics

Pixel screening system - allowing north light in, blocking western sun out

Pixel has been designed to provide 100% daylight penetration into the office space, whilst allowing screen based technologies (laptops, computers, iphones etc) to be used without the need for blinds on windows.

5) Just give it a go!

Living Roof test beds - which plant species and soil type will work best?

With such high standards, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Pixel ‘has it all together’. As advanced as Pixel is however, the owners of Pixel openly admit that because this building is a first on so many fronts, there are areas that they simply can’t quantify the effectiveness of … yet.

One example of this is their innovative use of native, hyper local Australian plant species on their ‘living roof’. They simply do not know which species will perform best given the location, the lack of equivalent plant life in the immediate vicinity, the unpredictable Melbourne rainfall and the differing soil types available. What Pixel has cleverly done though, is setup 4 testbeds testing different species and soil types. In time, Pixel itself will reveal to the owners which combination works best.

* Special thanks to both Melbourne Open House and David Waldren of Grocon/Pixel Building for hosting a fantastic, inspirational weekend!

Leave a comment!

Did you participate in Melbourne Open House 2010 this year? If so:

• Did you pick up additional sustainable architecture ideas that you’d like to share?
• Did you have further thoughts/comments/links from Melbourne Open House 2010?
• Further questions about sustainable architecture, design + build?

Please ‘Leave a comment‘ in the box provided below – we’d love to hear from you!

CONSIDERING SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE?
Have your sustainability questions answered!
Engage our sustainable Design + Build services today.

Related Links:

• Grocon’s Pixel Building
• Melbourne Open House
• Sustainable Architecture 101: The 7 Pillars

Related posts:

1. Designing the Future: Melbourne Weekly Cover Story (Downloadable PDF)
2. Sustainable Architecture Pillar 6: Sealed Building Envelope
3. Energy efficient house design: how much is each energy star really worth? (Free downloadable PDF)

6500+ visitors, 23 workshops and 4 days later – its hard to believe that the State of Design Festival is behind us!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and said hello – we loved that you felt just as passionately as we did about environmentally sustainable Design + Build!

In this post:

1. We announce the winner of our Door Prize, and
2. Compile the top 5 questions you asked us during the festival!

State of Design 2010: Door Prize winner + your Top 5 Questions answered

1. The winner of our Door Prize is…

First things first – the winner of our Door Prize of two barista standard, environmentally sustainable Keep Cups is…

Ms Judith Bennett of Enterprise Connect!

Congratulations Judith – now you can drink twice as much coffee *and* do the environment a favour!

2. The top 5 questions you asked us

We fielded so many questions over the 4 days of the festival and thought we would compile the Top 5 Questions as asked by you – our visitors:

#5: How can we make an existing house more energy efficient without spending a lot of money?

Every little gap causes unwanted heat losses and heat gains so:

• Close off wall and ceiling vents
• Replace existing exhaust fans with self-closing ones
• Weather-stripe existing windows and doors
• Don’t use standard down lights in the ceiling as they leave gaps/holes in the insulation
• Introduce air-locks for main entry doors

#4: How should we insulate/retrofit an existing house?

• Insulate the sub floor using waterproof rigid insulation and ensure there are no gaps around the insulation – for example, use expandable foam.
• Update roof/ceiling insulation using both reflective and bulk insulation, the higher the R-value the better. Aim for a combined R-value for the roof and the ceiling insulation of R.5.0
• Insulating the walls is a bit more tricky. Taking off the plasterboard to install bulk insulation might be the most obvious thing to do but if this proves too tricky, you can also bore holes in between studs and pump in cellulose fibre (if you do this ensure that the walls are closed at the bottom and that the insulation can’t fall through).
• Another way to improve the performance of an existing brick veneer or double brick home can be to add insulation to the outside of the wall and apply a render finish.

#3: How can we add external mass to an existing building/extension?

• Particularly for brick veneer and weatherboard extensions and renovations that have timber sub floor construction, it’s advisable to add as much thermal mass as possible. Thermal Mass could take the form of a concrete slab, reverse brick veneer walls or a brick cavity construction (the thermal mass needs to be separated from the external brick via insulation).
• Other ways to add thermal mass are to introduce internal brick, or mud brick walls and or dark coloured stone tiles, preferably positioned so that the winter sun can penetrate them.
• Another little trick might be to use concrete bench tops for kitchens and bathrooms.

#2: What’s the best/most efficient/sustainable way to heat an existing or a new home?

• Generally speaking, radiant heat is always more pleasant and comfortable than convective heat.
• Hydronic heaters are radiant heaters that use water or other liquids and need less energy than typical ducted heating systems or split systems.
• Hydronic heating is available in the form of underfloor heating for slab construction and can also be retrofitted into existing timber floors.
• Hydronic wall panel heaters are another efficient way of adding radiant heat to a building.

#1: Whats the best way to make a new building more energy efficient and sustainable without spending a lot of money?

• The easiest and cheapest way is to reduce the footprint.
• A smaller footprint means less materials, less wastage, less off-cuts, less surface area for potential unwanted heat gain or loss, less volume that needs to be heated up or cooled and ultimately less construction cost.
• Avoid corridors and hallways, create multi-functional/flexible rooms, use folding doors, screens and walls to separate or combine rooms if needed.
• Zone habitable rooms together to create heating/cooling efficiencies and create an air-lock at the entry of the house.

Leave a comment!

Do you have:

• Additional answers to the Top 5 questions?
• Thoughts/comments/links from the State of Design Festival 2010?
• Experiences from your Workshop you’d like to share?
• Further questions about sustainable Design + Build?

Please ‘Leave a comment‘ in the box provided below – we’d love to hear from you!

CONSIDERING SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE?
Have your sustainability questions answered!
Engage our sustainable Design + Build services today.

Related posts:

1. State of Design Festival 2010: Free workshop!
2. Energy efficient house design: how much is each energy star really worth? (Free downloadable PDF)
3. Sustainable Architecture Pillar 5: Thermal Mass