At Envirotecture we have a reputation for being militant anti-air conditioning. This is almost entirely true. But why? There are oh so many reasons. Here I look at the problem of peak demand
Envirotecture is really pleased to have received two awards on Friday 31 August, at the Building Designers Australia NSW Chapter Design Awards.
Two separate projects received design awards from two major manufacturers, recognising use of their products which both exemplified the product, and told a great story about its sustainable characteristics.
Our Ben Boyd Road House was awarded by Austral Bricks for the use and importantly, the reuse of clay bricks. The original bungalow suffered irreparable fire damage two years go, but of course the bricks had survived intact, including several thousand beautiful blue facebricks. All the bricks in the cottage were deconstructed and cleaned, and built back into the new structure. Commons were used in the foundations and rendered walls, and the blue facebricks designed into feature panels, which bring to life the history of building on the site. This house features in the first of our “Quick & Dirty” video series….
Our Taiyul Road House was awarded by AWS (Architectural Window Systems) for the use of their new Thermal Heart high performance double glazed windows. This treehouse lightweight home has higher levels of insulation throughout to make up for the lack of thermal mass (see our section on passive design), and the windows and doors are the single most critical part of that. The AWS product is versatile enough to provide nice features like ‘no post’ corners, which allow the line between internal and external space to be controlled any way the weather on any day demands. This house featured on the ATA’s recent webinar….
Envirotecture would like to thank Austral Bricks and Architectural Window Systems for their support of the BDA and the development of sustainable buildings.
Both of these buildings will appear on our Design > Residential webpage very soon.
Author:
Dick Clarke
The well-known and much loved champion of sustainable design in Australia has retired from the day-to-day at the company he founded in 1996, but he continues to offer wise counsel and unbridled optimism to the Envirotecture team. Dick continues to advocate for a better future in many voluntary capacities.
Date Published:
September 6, 2012
Published By:
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