The houses for 2009
All of the houses are within a 20 kilometre radius of Beechworth.
House 1
A rare and fine example of locally sourced granite.
NOTE: The inside of this home will be closed to the public. The main aim of this house is to show people what is achievable using locally sourced materials, so please admire and be inspired by the work done by hand.
This house is a fine and rare example of what can be done with locally sourced materials. Using local and regionally sourced materials, components, and systems has helped save energy and resources in the transportation to the project site.
The owner builder has spent the last 4 year’s, through trial and error, working with traditional techniques and developing new methods to work with locally sourced granite.
The residence has a 1kw grid connect solar system and the intention is to expand upon this using wind to power both the house and winery. Water harvesting and gray water use on the garden are a feature of this property.
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House 2
The philosophy of this property is to provide an environment for living that will thrive despite future scenarios of rapid climate change and a world without oil.
This is being realised through establishing a variety of food-producing areas and then providing the infrastructure to support these areas. This means providing enough water for current and future needs, using waste as a resource and not having to rely on outside agencies for disposal. Creating ornamental vistas incorporating many varieties of fruits and vegetables, and providing the storage facilities to ensure that there is a year-round supply of food.
The home heats water via a solar heater connected to a cast iron stove, which does the bulk of water heating through the winter. The grid-connect PV system has a dual inverter which allows excess power to be fed back to the grid with the provision to charge batteries.
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House 3
This home embraces solar passive principles.
The owners chose double brick and corrugated iron construction because they felt corrugated iron cools down more quickly than other materials. The whole house has double-glazed windows and doors. Roof extensions on the north side let the winter sun in and keep the summer sun out.
A concrete slab floor and central brick fireplace provide thermal mass to contain the warmth from the winter sun. Extra insulation in the western wall against the afternoon summer sun and a pergola with deciduous grape vine off the western wall help to provide more insulation in the summer.
The roof is made by Rytek and is a sandwich of dense polystyrene between two sheets of Colorbond with an insulation rating of R2.5. A stairwell with windows and cross-flow windows in the upstairs office act like a funnel in summer drawing the hot air up and out.
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House 4
Strawbale retrofit.
This project involves the retrofitting of an existing house to improve its environmental performance, and it is very much a work in progress.
The owners started with a modest three bedroom timber cottage. The renovation involves building an extension to the west, and using straw to maximize the insulation properties. This particular design involves load bearing walls where the weight of the roof is supported by the straw walls. When the extension to the house is finished the original cottage will be retrofitted with straw cladding.
The timber used in the stumps and around the larger doors and windows is recycled termite proof cypress pine, formerly used to make a shearing shed in southern NSW over 150 years ago.
Water to the existing house comes from a combination of rainwater and bore water, although the long term plan is to rely entirely on rainwater.
Follow the progress of this house on the owners blog.
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House 5
The Burrow.
The earth… The good earth that is both warm in the wintertime and cool in the summertime.
Why build underground? There are many advantages to earth integrated architecture. With the earth as insulation, heating and cooling, energy requirements are significantly reduced. This teamed with northern orientation allowing for passive heating of the the house all winter.
This house is nestled in to the side of an embankment. Built with a northern orientation, all the windows are double glazed. The roof has been covered with earth to help stabilize the internal temperature.
To the north the owner is in the process of establishing shading to help reduce the summer’s morning heat gain. Further shading devices are used to screen heat gain in the beautiful clear-story windows located in the kitchen.
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