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Architecture that makes good use of the sun's energy and incorporates other sustainable features is being celebrated.
More than 30 years after Solar House Day was first held in the ACT, the Australian Institute of Architects returns to a midwinter event to recognise, celebrate and demonstrate the work of local architects and their climate-appropriate energy-efficient housing for the Canberra region.
Solar House Day will feature architects' contributions to the development of energy-efficient passive solar and sustainable house design that responds to its climatic environment.
The Solar House Day lecture will be held at the Shine Dome on Wednesday, July 23, from 5pm. The Solar House Day bus tours will be held on Sunday, July 27 and August 3.
The public is welcome to attend the lecture and tours. To book, please email act@architecture.com.au or phone 02 6208 2100.
These houses, and others to be featured, will be included on the Solar House Day bus tours.
O’Connor Additions
Architect: Allan Spira
Photographer: Redzebra
This small two-bed attached residence in Lyneham was in desperate need of additional space for its inhabitants – a young family with two primary-school-aged children.
With north to the rear and the existing living area to the front of the property, a wholesale transformation of the original home was required. Retaining the original living area as a quiet "away" room or formal lounge, the rear of the existing home was opened up and extended to a sunken family room drenched in northern sunlight, with a polished-concrete floor providing thermal mass for the home and stacking sliding doors opening the home up to the back garden.
The original toilet and laundry were retained, while a lineal stair was added to provide access to the upper floor and encourage purging of warm air from the building on hot summer evenings.
Upstairs three bedrooms and a single generous bathroom with separate toilet. The lineal design continues and allows for cross ventilation within the bedrooms and across the home. The upper floor was clad in lightweight Colorbond and the walls, floors and ceiling are generously insulated.
Heating is provided by the original wood fire, converted from an open fire to a slow-combustion stove, hydronic in-slab heating to the new sunken family room and hydronic radiator panels to the new upper levelrooms.
High-quality composite windows were used, with low-maintenance aluminum externally and the internal timber was able to be painted to suit the crisp white interior colour scheme and focus attention on the beautiful recycled roasted timber floors and highly polished slab. Bay windows to the street elevation provide articulation, street appeal and beautiful views to the established street tree.
The simple building form adopted allowed for economies throughout the construction while the family's lifestyle and willingness to share one well-appointed bathroom and three generous bedrooms proves an understanding of material sustainability now and into the future.
Suttle House
Architect: Peter Overton – TT Architecture
Photographer: Peter Overton
A recently finished farm house to the south of Goulburn, this project was an owner-directed build executed by a very determined couple who had bought the site with a view to retiring away from the bustle of inner city Sydney.
The house is an ostensibly simple passive solar structure with some high-tech inclusions, such as a fuel-saving, rapid-combustion masonry heater, southern solar reflectors and the full range of autonomous services for water supply, sewerage treatment, solar electricity and water heating.
Remnants of the original cottage have been re-used in the new design; all the bricks were salvaged and re-laid to make the internal walls, and the original fireplace still stands to the rear of the building, serving as a sculptural reminder of the past residents.
A beautiful bunyah pine is also preserved to the western side of the house, again adding to the sense of history and providing summer shade as a bonus.
