Talina Edwards Architecture won the Sustainability Medal at the 2019 Architeam Awards for the Owl Woods Passive House project.
It was also an official finalist in the New Home Category at the 2019 Sustainability Awards.
The judges praised the project thus:
“It raises the bar for what is achievable in Sustainable Architecture and homebuilding.
This project has now achieved its official Certified Passive House (CPH) status, making it the 10th single-detached CPH home in Victoria, and the 20th CPD project in all of Australia.
It is a project that demonstrates that the stringent requirements to achieve this certification can work in harmony with good design.
The Owl Woods Passive House pavilions reach into the landscape and contain beautiful spaces that achieve a level of energy efficiency that all Architects should aspire to in their work.”
Owl Woods Passive House has been described as one of the most unique and beautiful Architecturally-designed Passivhaus homes in Australia.
The owners, David and Yvonne, are British and have lived in many homes all over the world – yet here in Australia with our mild weather conditions, they’ve never lived in houses so uncomfortable and unsuited to the climate.
They decided to be early-adopters of the international certified Passivhaus standard for their new home.
David and Yvonne wanted a ‘tree-change’ home that was ‘just-enough’ in terms of size, whilst also being comfortable, sustainable, functional, flexible, healthy and beautiful.
Talina Edwards Architecture’s response was inspired by the surrounding bushland and farming land.
The design echoes a cluster of farm-sheds or birdhouses, whilst also being reminiscent of a Scottish Village where the owners previously lived.
Located in the lovely regional Victorian town of Trentham, with an altitude of 700m above sea level, the area has weather that varies between snow in winter to summer temperatures reaching 40 degrees celsius.
For the new home to be climate-responsive, comfortable, sustainable and energy-efficient, the decision was made to design and construct the home to meet international passivhaus standards.
This cutting edge approach to high performance homes is still new in Australia, but it is fast-growing as home-owners, architects and builders learn about its many benefits.
The Passivhaus standards allow for stable indoor temperatures and a healthy indoor environment with low running costs.
This is achieved by:
- Well insulated building envelope
- Airtight envelope
- Really great windows (that are openable for natural ventilation when the outdoor temps are desirable!)
- Controlled Ventilation
- Elimination of Thermal Bridges in the structure
- plus orientation for solar gain in winter with appropriate shading for summer
The integration of Passivhaus standards with biophilic design enriches the experiences and wellbeing of the occupants.
Generous visual and physical connections to nature, natural light and materials are integral to the design, whilst the contemporary pavilion style layout creates diverse indoor environments for its users to experience.
The locality is known as “Owl Woods”, and the home appears as though a collection of birdhouses are sitting in the native woodland.
The pitched roofs stretch out to the north in a unique ‘birds-beak’ shape for summer shading.
The orientation of the house is slightly north-west due to the ‘building envelope’ specified for the site – in response the roofs fold down on the western sides, forming wings to shelter each pavilion from afternoon summer sun.
External blinds, and deciduous planting also help shade the house at different times of the day and year.
The home takes advantage of the winter sun to provide passive heating to the centrally located living areas, and the bedroom/bathroom zones to each side, which are connected by functional linkways and courtyard spaces which perform as outdoor rooms.
The modest sized home has a couple of ‘bedrooms’ which are flexible as guest rooms or as everyday office/study/living areas.
Rather than just being ‘tin sheds’, lovely radial-sawn native timber cladding was introduced to complement the grey corrugated steel, and soften the overall feel of the home and create that connection back to the surrounding bushland.
Materials were chosen that are natural, healthy, durable and sustainably sourced, relating back to the Australian landscape and minimising embodied energy wherever possible.
Designed to fulfill both the physical and emotional desires of its occupants, the Owl Woods Passive House is a unique blend of Biophilic Design and Passivhaus Standards of Construction.
In this aspect, it really is a pioneer project for Passivhaus homes in Australia.
After completion of the project the owners shared their reflections.
“After many renovations we’d always wanted to build a house from scratch. High on our priority list was sustainability, for a variety of reasons, but were not quite sure what that could/should entail!
Key to us was engaging local firms and, during this search, the idea of a house with good solar orientation was suggested and this soon developed into a full blown Passive House (still with the solar orientation, but now with awesome thermal properties and air tightness) was suggested and it quickly took hold as the ideal way to build our new house – given the climate, rising energy costs and achieving ‘comfortable’ living.
When we’ve been living in the house for a year we’ll be able to gauge the impact on running costs, but we’re expecting to be pleasantly surprised.”
Key Products Used
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS
CONSTRUCTION: Lightweight construction timber-framed construction for floor/walls/roof
ROOFING: Metal (Colorbond “Wallaby”)
WALLS: Radially-Sawn Timber cladding, Colorbond cladding and Rendered Magnesium Oxide cladding to enclose sub-floor, plasterboard lining internally
WINDOWS AND DOORS: Triple glazing Passive House Certified Windows, Low-e films, Tilt and Turn, Composite frames (timber inside, aluminium externally)
WINDOWS/DOORS COVERING AND PROTECTION: Adjustable Shading, Blinds, Deciduous tree/vegetation, Drapes/curtains. The northern eaves and protruding vertical ‘wing’ walls on western ends have been designed to shade from the summer sun.
RECYCLED/REUSED MATERIALS: Rocks/stone, Sleepers, Timber
INSULATION:
- Under roof: Blanket R1.5
- Ceiling: Bulk Insulation batts – glass wool R7.0
- Internal walls: Bulk Insulation batts – glass wool R2.5 +
- External Walls: Insulated panel system PIR boards 2x50mm R6.7
- Sub Floor: Bulk Insulation batts – glass wool R7.0
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS:
- Recycled/reclaimed timber for deck and pergola
- Sustainable sourced, radially-sawn SilverTop Ash cladding and timber battens
- Recyclable and durable steel sheeting for cladding and roofing
HEALTHY HOME MATERIALS AND DESIGN ELEMENTS:
- Airtight house design
- Heat recovery ventilation (HRV/MVHR) Zehnder
- Cross flow ventilation with openable windows
- Low VOC paints/sealer/varnish, Natural oil sealer/finishes
- No Carpets
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
PASSIVE HOUSE CERTIFICATION (once complete)
ENERGY/STAR RATING:
- First-Rate/NATHERS 7.4stars
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
- “Solar ready” – designed to go on Garage roof … owners just waiting until they’ve lived there to see how big an array they need
- All electric home (no gas)
WATER HEATING:
Sanden Eco Hot Water Heat Pump
PASSIVE HEATING COOLING:
- Cross ventilation
- Passive solar designed home
- Shading
ACTIVE HEATING COOLING:
- Split system air conditioner
- Heat exchange ventilation system (MVHR)
- Energy efficiency Solar Passive Design Principles
- Draught proofing
- Efficient lighting
- Energy monitoring
EFFICIENT LIGHTING:
- LED lights throughout
- Natural daylight
WATER HARVESTING, RECYCLING AND WATER SAVING:
- Above ground rainwater storage – water tanks 37,000 litres
- Low flow shower heads
- Hot water re-circulation
- Drip irrigation
Project Details
Project Size – 200 m2
Site Area – 2,875 m2
Completion Date – 2019
Building Levels – 1
Project Details
Architecture
Talina Edwards Architecture
Ballarat-based Talina is an architect with a love for environmentally sustainable design, healthy homes, and natural living.
Landscape Architecture
Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design
Kathleen Murphy Landscape Designs work ranges from inner city courtyard and suburban gardens to large private and commercial properties.
They design spaces with a strong focus on linking the architecture of the house and buildings to the surrounding landscape.
Passive House Designer
Detail Green
Detail Green has significant industry experience in Sustainable Design, Construction and Energy Efficiency.
They provide sustainability (ESD) solutions for both residential and commercial buildings and collaborate with design teams to reduce a project’s environmental footprint.
Passive House Certifier
Grun Consulting
Grün Consulting is an Inhabit company. Inhabit is a unique, multi-disciplinary collective of experienced architects, designers, engineers and contractors who work both independently and in partnership to make a positive contribution to our built environment.
Photography
Tatjana Plitt
Tatjana is an award-winning artist and architecture/interiors photographer based in Melbourne. She completed her Bachelor of Media Arts at RMIT University and has exhibited her work throughout Australia and internationally.
Inspired by the power of architecture to shape how we feel, think and behave, Tatjana creates images that capture the mood and emotion of spaces.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2021 Talina Edwards Architecture. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2021 Tatjana Plitt. All Rights Reserved.
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