House in Emerald
This house is located on a small farm to the east of Melbourne. The brief was to make it energy efficient and visually for it to blend into the landscape. The contours of the land and the views informed the geometry, where the living areas to the north fan out to sweeping views to the north and a small creek runs on the contour slightly to the east. The roof of the house is a green roof, covered in native vegetation, so from the road, the house disappears into the hills once the vegetation on the roof has grown higher. Corrugated iron is used as the cladding to blend into the Australian vernacular of a rural shed. Part of the brief was to allow the farm animals, mainly horses, to come right up to the house. We achieved this by cutting it into the landscape but spending time on the house's location within the parameters of the larger farm area.
This house has a few other interesting features. We designed it to be made from SIPs – structural insulated panels for extra strength and a much higher insulation value to the walls. The SIPs also help with the roof's structural load, which is heavier due to the plant matter and growing medium. The walls have an R-value of 3.2. The green roof is also set on a much larger than normal roof structure. 400mm x 45mm LVL beams at 450 centres. This depth allows for more insulation and, when added to the benefits of the green roof, means that the house's performance from an energy standpoint is excellent. It also helps that the house is entirely off-grid, as the shed over the creek has a 60 Kilowatt solar system and a massive length of solar hot water pipe to feed the hot water and the house battery bank. Due to this and the higher performance of the overall building envelope, the house performs at the passive house level.
