Abbotsford House

Approach

This new passive house for a family of five in Sydney’s Inner West pushes the bounds of sustainability in line with the aspirations of our clients, who had previously built a new home in Germany.

As a starting point, they provided a poem that described a house as a place for the collection of memories:

Enjoy every moment of your wonderful life
For through these little pearls of joy
Grows an ocean of beautiful memories

Countering this whimsical side, they also wanted this house to be designed and fast tracked through a complying development process, so it could be approved quickly, while pushing Australian sustainable design standards in every way to achieve the standard of a Passive House.

Our approach balanced this tension to create a home that is both site-specific and highly innovative.

Process

The complying development process required us to adhere to very specific regulations. However, our in-depth knowledge of those regulations – together with clever design and spatial solutions – provided the best outcomes within the rigid constraints, enabling us to meet the requirements of the brief without compromising any of the clients’ ideals.

The chasm between Passive House standards – which were originally developed for cooler Northern European climates – and the technological systems available in Australia proved a major issue, with the client’s initial expectations seemingly unachievable. However, creative customised design solutions bridged the gap and enabled us to achieve the desired environmental performance, which was measured post-construction although the clients decided not to pursue certification.

Results

This house successfully combines sustainable design principles and technologies, resulting in a home that is easy and effortless to use.

Furthermore, the design solutions include fine details, sustainable materials, custom furniture, texture and colour. The house invites its occupants to touch and feel, to inhabit in both intimate and communal ways, to pause and perch, and to connect with the ground, water and sky.

The passive house generates its own electricity via solar panels and provides captured rainwater for reuse, therefore reducing both its carbon footprint and ongoing running costs.

Environmentally designed to capture sun in winter and cooling breezes in summer – and with protected outdoor spaces all year-round – it is a house for all seasons.

For the owners, the passive house is both about family and familiarity. They note that “from the day we moved in, it felt like we have always lived here”.