Ideas & Advice
Airtight design
If you’re planning to build an airtight home, it’s important that you also consider indoor air quality. We ask building scientist Jenny Edwards to tease out the issues around mechanical ventilation with heat recovery – including when it’s needed and when it’s not.
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Ideas & Advice
A new solution to our waste crisis
Creating new materials from waste products is essential if we’re to solve the global recycling, waste and emissions crisis.
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Ideas & Advice
Materials frontier: Composites reforming the way we build
Sustainable designer Dick Clarke explains some of the new developments reshaping the way we build in Australia and around the world, including composite materials that reduce carbon, interrupt waste streams and even re-assemble themselves.
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Ideas & Advice
Buyer (still) beware
Australia has a new National Construction Code that doesn’t adequately address local climate, compliant building materials or construction quality.
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Outdoors
Upcycled glasshouses
Are we in a new golden age of conservatories? Secondhand glazing is being given a new life as greenhouses – but far from being plant-only spaces, we visit five conservatories which double as cosy extra rooms for relaxation.
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Building materials
Thin skin: getting cladding right
Cladding has become controversial, but every building needs a skin. What should you consider when choosing cladding material?
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Ideas & Advice
Light saviours: ways to upswitch your lighting
With so many lighting products to choose from, why are most homes – even sustainable ones – still so poorly lit? We ask three lighting luminaries for their advice on how to avoid the 'she'll be right' status quo.
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Sustainable Design
Adaptable design and why you’ll keep hearing about it
Houses should be designed to match the way we live, which in the 21st century means being adaptable for ageing, climate, working from home and variable household sizes. Kirsty Volz explains how to ensure your home is flexible and fit for purpose.
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Ideas & Advice
Renovate on any budget
Wanting to improve your home but don’t know where to start or how far your money will stretch? Experienced designer Simone Schenkel shares her tips for sustainable renovations with a starting budget of $10,000 through to $350,000-plus.
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Outdoors
Shared yards
Tearing down the backyard fence or installing a gate between your house and next door sounds good in theory, but what’s it like in reality?
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Ideas & Advice
The right to roam
Forage-friendly landscapes are everywhere in Australia, including in the suburbs. But before you go out and fill your basket, familiarise yourself with the rules of engagement, writes Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood.
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