Guild Architects' Yarraville Garden House was the winner of the Single Dwelling (Alterations & Additions) prize at the 2016 Sustainability Awards. The expert judges noted that the "passive design is excellent, the mechanical systems are smart and well thought out, and the water use is good too", selecting the project from a strong field of eight finalists. Scroll to the bottom to see comments from our jury on this project.
Guild Architects’ Yarraville Garden House is based around passive solar design and the integration of landscape.
Although the multitude of garden and outdoor spaces encourage you to live outdoors, it's also a house designed to enjoy the outdoors while indoors through natural light, ventilation and connections to garden and sky.
The raked roof, designed to capture sun in winter and breezes in summer, defines the architecture of the house and character of the external spaces.
The project is focused on energy and water consumption and responsible material use. Systems were chosen for their reliability and potential to future proof against climate change, whether this be the red valve cold water recovery tap, the solar hot water, or the low VOC finishes.
While the original period home was in good condition, its orientation precluded effective passive solar design adaptation. Rather than modifying the original home, it remains a bedroom wing, with the extension comprising the living areas that gain most benefit from passive solar design. This minimised expensive, unnecessary and resource intensive renovations to the existing house (only one room was reconfigured) while maximising the benefits for the family of architectural input.
KEY INITIATIVES
- Conceptual framework and building form based around passive solar design and integrating landscape design into building cooling strategies
- Incorporated systems with known environmental performance and maximum potential for adaptability to deal with changing energy market and advances in technology
- Maximised retention and minimised work to existing building (this was complex due to the existing buildings south west orientation)
- Favoured durable, adaptable, recyclable and timeless finishes to minimise embodied energy and costs over the life time of the building through renovations
PRODUCTS
FLOORING
COMCORK FLOORING
WATER TANK
ATLANTIS, MATRIX WATER TANK
COATINGS
DULUX,PROFESSIONAL ENVIRO2
GRIMES & SONS, OIL ACRYLIC LOW VOC WATER BASED STAIN
HYDRONIC CONDENSING BOILER
IMMERGAS
HVAC
DAIKIN, SPILT SYSTEMS
SOLAR HOT WATER
APRICUS
INSULATION
CSR BRADFORD, GOLD HI PERFORMANCE BATTS
Jury Citation
"Whatever one makes of the Jekyll & Hyde approach to heritage design, and all the arch-speak attempts to make sense of it, this design actually kicks goals, and is backed by high quality data and information.
"Passive design is excellent, the mechanical systems are smart and well thought out, and the water use is good too. Beyond this, Yarraville Garden House is a beautiful piece of architecture with a very powerful roof."
The award for Single Dwelling (Alterations & Additions) was proudly sponsored by Open Shutters
