The Australian way of life revolves around indoor-outdoor living. To bring the outdoors inside and the inside out was one of the core approaches in this project. The house is designed around a central courtyard garden which integrates with an open plan living area – enabling the central family space to extend into the garden, and the garden into the house.
Zoning is paramount to this design, with service areas to the south, and living areas to the north. The public zone of the house is at the front and centre, leaving the rear of the house as a private wing for north facing kids bedrooms and a master bedroom suite.
To achieve zero heating and cooling, a number of additional passive solar design strategies were used, of course. The house is super-insulated to keep the heat in or out. It is super-airtight leaving no paths for draughts and unwanted heat transfer. These measure, together with meticulous detailing and perfect placement of windows and shading, enable this house to function in summer or winter without heating or cooling.