House Salisbury

BRIEF

The overall brief was for a new home for a young family. The spatial arrangements where to include, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, powder room, study, kitchen, pantry, dining, living room, TV room, outdoor living areas, and 2 car carport. The new house was to make the most of the views across the park adjacent and the northerly orientation of the lot. The site was subject to a minimum floor height set by Brisbane City Council due to 1 in 100 year localised flooding. This new house was completed in 2013, in Salisbury, Brisbane, Queensland 4107.

RESOLUTION

This residential project was built behind a small existing 1970’s house. Upon completion, the existing house was disconnected from services and removed from site. This staging enabled the owner to stay in residence during construction of the new home. The old house was sold whole to a house removal company. This process meant there was a substantial saving in the construction of the new house, as the cost of demolition and removal was covered completely through the sale of the old house. The sale also covered the cost of installation of a PV array on the roof of the new house. Other savings to come from this process included that the owner did not have moving expenses or private property rental during the construction period to cover. The architecture is both responsive to the subtropical climate and was very budgetary conscious.

SUSTAINABLE FEATURES

The house design was to integrate sustainable practices throughout including the construction phase. Through careful planning and staging of construction there was a minimum of waste generated on site and recycled/reclaimed materials where incorporated throughout. The house has excellent orientation, cross ventilation, incorporates best practices regarding passive solar design, inclusion solar hot water, solar PV cells connected to grid, low energy appliances and lighting, water harvesting and insulation. During design it was decided not too install air conditioning initially. The house has been occupied for almost 2 years and there have only been a few occasions that the owners have commented that air-conditioning would have been used. The house and occupants are currently participating in a comfort study being undertaken by Wendy Miller from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The following link lists her publications. The research is overall seeking to monitor air-conditioned homes, in QLD, this house being a non air-conditioned home is a comparative for the research. Wendy and myself both believe in SEQ it is possible to design and construct a home that is comfortable in summer and winter without needed AC. We are looking forward to the reporting and outcomes from this study as there have been temperature and humidity sensors in the building for a year know recording information at 20-minute intervals.

CREDITS

Architect: Gadke Architects

Builders: White Key Projects Pty Ltd

Calara Constructions

Damon Alagich

Engineer: Westera Consulting Engineers

Photography: Andrew Manson – www.mansonimages.com