The owners had a fundamental desire for passive solar design informed by their respective professional experiences (one as a town planner) and their desire for an energy efficient, healthy home.

They wanted their house to harness the elements to be naturally comfortable using warming winter sun and cross ventilation in as many rooms as possible, on their block oriented north to the side. 

They also need to comfortably occupy their house 24-7, not just at night and on weekends, but working from home on weekdays was a permanent requirement of their brief, even before the pandemic. 

The challenge would be how to provide access to north light and southerly breezes to all rooms for a family of five including 4 bedrooms, main living, second living/occasional study, all of which they wanted to be on the ground floor. They also wanted a separate dedicated work from home space and a garage equipped for electric vehicle car charging. 

The form of the house is elongated along the southern side of the block to maximise opportunity for passive solar gain to living rooms. A high ceiling over the main living bathes the room in sunlight and reveals electrically operable highlight windows that draw in prevailing cooling southerly breezes.

Further down the block the kids bedrooms are in a separate wing accessed via a rumpus room that shares light and warmth with the rooms adjacent. 

The house has a sunny side yard instead of a back yard, including a pool and garden and pergola over an outdoor dining area.  

The oculus cutout of the pergola embodies the family’s fundamental desire for passive solar design while providing a beautifully unique space to gather. This circular extrusion through the timber slatted roof invites warming winter sun in, while providing summer shade to the living rooms adjacent. 

The upper floor contains a dedicated work-from home space, separate from family life below, with distant views to help inspire creative professional solutions. The roof deck off this space provides a sheltered outdoor space in the treetops and sunset views. 

The timber slatted façade shelters the main bedroom from western sun while providing privacy, allowing the property to not have a front fence and share its garden with the street in a neighbourly gesture.

Its thermally-efficient specification includes double glazed, timber framed, tilt-and-turn windows and lift-and-slide doors that seal tightly shut to European standards. These windows are complemented by operable external venetian blinds to provide complete control of Australia’s summer sun. Heavy internal window furnishings help keep winter heat in, while providing a soft and tactile feel to the interior. 

High levels of insulation in 200mm thick walls and pre-fab insulated roof panels complement the thermal mass of the insulated concrete floor to help maintain stable internal temperatures.  

With such a tightly sealed, highly insulated thermal envelope, a Heat Recovery Ventilation unit has been integrated to bring in fresh air from outside, while retaining warmth from the air being expelled. 

With 34 solar panels and energy efficient design and construction, this all-electric house has low reliance on grid energy (4-5kWh/day in summer and 10kWh/day in winter) even while charging an electric vehicle that drives 50km/day and heating a pool to 30 degrees in swimming season and actually exporting over 8,000kWh to the grid each year.