White Gum Valley Residence

A focus on natural light and updated finishes brings this home (literally) out of the dark, resulting in a bright and spacious home designed for raising a family.

For this project our clients wanted to maintain the integrity of their existing single storey home, while providing a new first floor extension to accommodate their growing family. With a strong focus on Passivhaus and sustainability, three new bedrooms and an ensuite were added upstairs.

We also updated their kitchen, dining, and family area on the existing ground floor. To modernise the façade, the existing pitched roof was entirely replaced.

Clients’ priorities

One of the key requests from our clients was to minimize the amount of disruption to their life during the build. To achieve this, we designed the first-floor extension to suit a prefabricated modular construction.

This meant that it could be built relatively quickly, and largely off-site.

The clients also loved the design of the Rose Seidler house, a well known mid-century modernist house completed in Sydney in 1950, and requested that we use this as inspiration for the design of their extension.

Sustainable features

Heavily insulated walls and ceiling spaces combined with north-facing double glazed windows ensure a high level of energy efficiency and year-round comfort.

 

To optimise space, old internal brick walls were removed to open up the living areas. Cabinetry and a study nook were tucked away under the staircase to ensure there was no wasted space.

It all starts with a good ecohabit!

The word ‘ecohabit’ derives from two words, ecology and habit. Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment and a habit is repeated routine behaviour.

A well designed home can improve our quality of life as well as influencing good ‘ecohabits’. A home that is well lit, naturally ventilated with fresh air and connected to its outdoor environment, will make its occupants feel more alive and active.

We base our practice on the belief that excellent design should be accessible to everyone. The design philosophies around energy efficient housing are in fact quite simple, but many in our industry have chosen to ignore them for decades. The result is often homes that look appealing, but don’t perform well for the occupants.

We are moving into an era of technology that can positively impact on the liveability of homes and our carbon footprint. It is now possible to be as much as 80% to 90% self-sufficient for energy by designing new homes with modern methods of construction, combined with roof-top solar and affordable battery technology. This is a game changer for the way we design homes!

let’s work together

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