The site is located on the shore of Lake Hume, an artificial agricultural water body
created in 1936 at the base of the Australian Alps. The new house is the owner’s primary dwelling. The owner announced his idea in 2004. “A low energy house, before the end of the decade,,,and the other things.” tUG developed a first principle solution to the problem of the idea – a concrete interior to act as a moderating radiator.
The House has an attic bedroom over a basement wine cellar with a ground floor, not
between, but beside. Eating, Cooking and Drinking occur in a single triangular space. In the centre is a courtyard (Kopor) designed by the Indigenous Artist Kevin O’Brien. The house U-turns around Kopor (trans. Belly Button – Language of Meriam Mir, Torres Strait) in acceptance that dwelling in Australia occurs in de-ritualised Country. Kopor is made of rock (Beechworth Granite) cut from Country – weathering iron-oxide amber. Kopor momentarily touches reflectively the panorama in a triangle window eliminating in-between land (farm) to make a place only near and far.
ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT
The building was designed to be energy efficient by avoiding orthodox Australian construction techniques (massive thermal bridges) - instead it Aggregates Masonry as a
Platform dressed with an Isothermic Shell forming a tent and with Infiltration Sealing toward Passivehaus Standards.
Technique developed for construction of the dwelling:
Earth-coupled structural concrete tub formed by ground cantilevered precast conc. wall
panels integrated with in-situ poured conc. floor slabs. Below ground insulation – extruded p/styrene sheet (R 1.76) to depths of 900-1200mm. Exposed unsealed internal concrete panels for thermal mass, condensation control, integral finish and visual beauty.
Interior dressed and isolated from the external environment by polystyrene-core steel
sheet roof panels (200mm – R 5.3) and wall panels (150mm – R 4.0) High Performance DG glazing units, (U 2.2) – Designed Shading North/West/East. External paving thermally isolated from internal concrete tub. Solar Kombi domestic hot water and hydronic heating system. On site Innoflow passive waste water treatment system with orchard irrigation. On site grid interactive PV electrical production.
Performance recorded May 2012 – May 2013.
Min int. temp Winter 2012 (unheated) 17.5 deg C.
Ext environment temp – Av. Mean Min. 3.9 deg C, Av. Mean Max 12.2 deg C (BOM records July).
Av. Max in temp Summer 2012/13 (uncooled) 23.5 deg C
Ext environmental temp – Av. Mean Min 16.4 deg C, Av. Mean Max 30.8 deg C (BOM records Jan).
Heat Wave Event Jan 2013 ext temp 40-44 deg C – 16 days duration. Max. int temp reached (uncooled) 29.5 deg C. – Note recorded prior to envelope pressure testing and
regime of infiltration sealing.
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