Family home: Belair 5052, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

The aim was to build a home for a family of  5, leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible.

The requirement was for a zero-energy, independent home, incorporating as many sustainable ideas and materials as possible. But the house also needed to be affordable and practical. Sustainable living should not just consider the building and the land but also the impact the home has on ones quality of life! Hence it is, like all things in life, a compromise.

Project units: South Australia

With previous experience of living in remote mining communities, our original idea was to design a set of units that could accommodate 2 individuals sharing one house (or 4 if on a rotating basis), yet providing adequate privacy and space for each occupant. Sharing of space was to be limited to common areas such as living room and kitchen. Consideration was also give to the special needs of shift workers and their sleeping patterns with high levels of noise insulation and light isolation.

But above all, we wanted to bring a more urban, real life feel to the area where employees feel comfortable and more "at home" than in current mining towns.

To reduce required infrastructure, continuous overheads and to be "light" on the environment, the requirement was again for zero-energy, totally independent units, incorporating as many sustainable ideas and materials as possible.