A new home for my clients in Marsden Valley near Stoke on a flat site which has the luxury of space and separation from neighbours but the restriction of engineering covenants. A contemporary single storey design of medium size for a family of 4 and featuring a large home workshop strategically hidden behind the garage.
All north facing rooms receive direct solar gain in winter for free heating energy which is stored in a fully insulated exposed concrete slab floor and an adobe veneer feature wall in the main living space. Other rooms are warmed via natural ventilation of excess warm air circulating from the rear of the kitchen through high internal borrowed light opening windows. A ceiling fan high in the clerestorey passage space gently circulates the borrowed warm air to the bedrooms and service rooms while additional direct gain winter sunlight helps with natural lighting and heating including additional lighting to the rear of the kitchen through the borrowed lights.
Other floor coverings are natural cork tiles to non solar heated spaces and ceramic tiles with under tile heating to service rooms. All timber framing is Douglas Fir either untreated or treated with non toxic Boron to H1.2 where required. All insulation in walls and ceilings is 100% wool Latitude insulation to full levels. Underfloor insulation is 50mm polystyrene and will hopefully be 50% recycled product if we can get that happening via Poly Palace in Porirua.
Primary cladding with be Literock plaster from Rockcote and the complimentary weatherboard and trim is stained macrocarpa. The decking is locally grown and naturally durable Saligna or Tasmanian Ash, both Australian Eucalypts.
