WENTWORTH FALLS - PASSIVE HOUSE WITH A VIEW
Another exciting project in the beautiful Blue Mountains and a great collaboration with Mark Davis! This time it is a knock-down of the existing weatherboard house and building a super-efficient, healthy, and comfortable home for a young couple working from home.
After a few different concept designs, based on the budget and the buildability and ease of the execution of the specific details necessary to satisfy the Passive House standard – (the world’s leading and most developed, stringent building standard with a focus on the quality and longevity of the build, moisture management, energy efficiency of the building as well as healthy internal environment free from mould, dust, pollen, bush fire smoke and the other pollutants), we have decided to go with a relatively simple barn-like form.
We added a feature detail in a generous roof overhang to the east and west of the house as well as on the entry of the house. A visually interesting external detail also protects from the summer sun and the elements. The house is situated in BAL-FZ, and we chose to clad it with interlocking metal panels mimicking vertically cladded barns. The roof colour matches one of the claddings. For the accents under the eaves of the roof overhangs and adjoining walls, we chose a composite material that resembles timber and is suited for use in BAL-FZ.
The house sits quietly, nicely nested among the trees on the top of the escarpment, not interfering with the natural landform and the views, giving a subtle but powerful statement.
Main entry into the house leads you straight to the heart of the home, with easy access to the kitchen and the other shared areas. The hallway separates the living areas from the rest of the house. The main bedroom features a walk-in robe and ensuite, with generous glass surfaces to the east and views towards the hills in the distance and into the depths of the bush of the National Park. The living and dining room share the same grand views through a large sliding door and access to a large outdoor area with generous glazing areas. A large kitchen with ample storage and a work area is separated from the dining by the kitchen island/breakfast bar. The bathrooms and laundry are located along the south side of the house. The other two bedrooms and the study are located on the house's west side, all overlooking the private front yard.
MARRICKVILLE - FEDERATION BUNGALOW ADDITION AND ALTERATION
Situated in the Heritage Conservation Area, on the triangular block, this Inner-west 3-bedroom, single-story Federation bungalow was neglected for a long time and was in dire need of renovation. This project aimed to tackle the problem of rising dampness and mould, leaky walls and windows, lack of natural light inside the house, poor circulation, poorly built fibro extension, the small expired and inefficient bathroom, and outdated, poorly functional kitchen, to name just a few.
We decided to demolish the fibro extension, reorganise the space, and add as many features of high performing home as the budget allows. A small laundry is located on the east wall with a door to the new bathroom. The bathroom features a toilet and bathtub with a large window and glass door to enjoy long soaks with views of the private courtyard and native plants. We are bringing even more light in with a skylight window above the bathtub to enjoy those stary nights. From the other side of the wall is a modern galley kitchen with a kitchen island that extends into a new dining room and a study. That area is busking in light thanks to the high cathedral ceilings, large sliding doors that open to the courtyard and large and high windows on the north.
We redesigned the existing bathroom to make it more functional, and by adding Solatube, we brought more light in. On the west wall of the existing lounge, we replaced two narrow windows with a large sliding door on the deck and further to the backyard and entertaining area. The current, unsightly garage is demolished and rebuilt to be smaller and away from the house to gain access from the front yard to the backyard via a path through the locking gate. Part of the house facing the street is renovated to its former glory to satisfy the Heritage conservation area planning controls. Roof shapes had to stay the same in the original part of the building, while we were allowed to extend the form of the original roof at the back of the house to cover the new extension.
KATOOMBA - CUTE Federation ADDITION AND ALTERATION
The cute, small Federation house in the beautiful Blue Mountains was ready for a makeover. The goal was to bring more light into the home, make it a bit bigger and more comfortable for a couple of busy professionals and occasional visits from their families, keeping as much of the original form and as many existing features as possible.
Comfort, health, and mutual care for the environment inspired us to improve all the thermal performance aspects of the house by replacing old leaky windows with airtight, high-performing triple-glazed windows, adding a wall, roof, and underfloor insulation together with an airtightness layer and carefully modelled moisture management to avoid condensation and mould problems.
On the north side, instead of the existing deck, we designed a light-drenched sunroom/dining room with large northern windows and a view towards the garden. The bedroom on the south got a little extension with a daybed below the window and storage underneath. The original tiny bathroom was made bigger with a bathtub in front of the window to enjoy that indoor-outdoor connection. We moved the opening between the kitchen and living room to improve the circulation through the house and increase the kitchen’s functionality allowing us to add more work surfaces and a storage area. We added a few more windows in the other rooms to bring in more natural light. Finally, hidden from the eyes of not initiated, below the sunroom floor and on top of the inground water tanks, recessed below the ground, we placed a basement with a wine cellar that can hold up to 3000 bottles of the nectar and, maybe, some homegrown pickles from the back garden.
EARLWOOD - 2nd Story Addition and Renovation
The main reason for the development of the existing single-story house on this steep and challenging site was to make additional and necessary space for the growing family of four children and to renovate and reorganise the existing ground floor to allow for each family member’s needs and activities. The size of the proposed second-story addition is 112 m2. Second story addition consists of three bedrooms, a bathroom, a separate toilet, and a living area.
The new 2nd story living area is positioned centrally to allow for a shared space for kids of various ages, with large northeast windows to maximise solar gain and sufficient shading for summer. Two bedrooms are on the north side of the house, with a balcony that provides the connection to the backyard and shading for the north ground-floor windows. A generous roof overhang is designed to provide shade in summer and allow the low winter sun to come in. The third bedroom is located on the northeast corner of the house and features a balcony with a view towards the valley. The bathroom and a separate toilet are positioned on the south side of the house, together with the staircase, which features a large window to bring natural light to the dark central part of the ground floor.
A small existing ground-floor bathroom in need of renovation and expansion is moved to one of the existing rooms, and its space is used for the staircase and under-staircase storage. The rest of the ground floor layout remained the same.
Because of the height restrictions, the only possibility was to go with the skillion roof.
As with our other projects, we built the new addition to the best high-performing specs the budget allowed to maximise energy efficiency, comfort and the health aspects of the dwelling. Good quality double-glazed windows paired with an airtight, well-insulated envelope and moisture management within it carefully modelled to avoid any nasty mould and rot surprises in the future.