Sanctuary Issue 24

Issue Contents:

Earthly home comforts

An earth-covered sustainable home pays homage to its surrounding environment.

Ageing beauty

Most people wouldn’t contemplate converting a heritage listed derelict warehouse into a liveable home, but for one architect the project made perfect sense.

The simple life

The pared back design of this modular home promotes sustainability, simplicity and liveability.

Size does matter

In Perth, a home’s adaptable design bucks the local trend for building big.

Sustainable House Day 2013

Hundreds of homes, thousands of visitors. Australia’s sustainable homes will open again this year on Sunday 8 September.

Tips for a sustainable home

Sustainable design is really just common sense.

VIC: Junction house

A Melbourne couple opened their home in 2012 to show others that building a sustainable house is an enjoyable and gratifying experience.

WA: Perth’s Green Swing

A small-scale urban development shows that sustainable design is a perfect fit for medium density living.

QLD: Treehouse retreat

The chance to peek into treetop living at Currumbin Ecovillage has been a Sustainable House Day highlight.

QLD: Tropical interaction

A family home designed for interaction and comfort in the tropics sits high above the leafy suburb of Redlynch Valley, west of Cairns.

SA: A good house

An Adelaide home shows visitors that a cleverly designed home takes its environmental footprint seriously.

NSW: Settled in

For a Sydney couple, the eco transformation of their turn-of-the-century Sydney home has been a journey they’ve enjoyed sharing with others.

Designing 10 Star homes

A 10 Star home requires no heating or cooling to keep us comfortable year-round. So why are so few of these super energy efficient homes built?

Shelter & stewardship

A residential dwelling in Sabah, on the island of Borneo in Malaysia, is a challenging ecological design and cultural change project.

Blinds & shading

Appropriate sun shading is vital to successful passive solar design. Anna Cumming looks at how to ensure you can keep the sun out when it’s not wanted.

Illawarra Flame

The team behind Australia’s first Solar Decathlon entry have retrofitted an Australian fibro house with a garden to encourage recycling, reuse and food production.

Gardening in the dry

Successful water-wise gardens are about common sense and taking stock of what grows locally.