Sanctuary Issue 45
Issue highlights
- The experimental issue: Eight house designs that play with shape, budget, site and style
- Back to Basics a house for $100K
- Passive House, the ‘next big thing’?
- Summer cooling from your solar PV
- Rainwater: get it right for your site
- Is the market finally ready for energy-efficient design?
- Verge garden designs + more
House profiles
Forest friendly
Shaped to blend with the forest floor, a curvilinear Passive House reaches 7.4 Stars without rooftop solar or thermal mass.
Back to basics
Good design need not be expensive – as Tassie architect Andrew Kerr shows with his 7.1 Star ‘apple crate shack’ built for $100,000.
Hilltop hood
A small Adelaide Hills house uses big design thinking to overcome several major site constraints.
Coastal cliff hanger
Too steep for use as a backyard, a Central Coast NSW block hosts a versatile, energy-efficient studio with spectacular sea views, thanks to extraordinary engineering.
Island off-grid
We visit an experimental off-grid house on South Stradbroke Island designed to expand and contract to accommodate the whole family.
About face
A project home retrofit shows how to achieve thermal comfort and energy efficiency with less-than-perfect orientation.
Rising from the earth
Traditional materials and innovative spiral design connect a tree-changing Japanese family to their local community.
Passive resistance
This rammed earth, Passive House renovation ensures a Melbourne heritage house is resilient to a changing climate.
Design features
Passive House from the inside
The Passive House building standard is gaining traction in Australia. Dick Clarke and Andy Marlow explain why – and yes you are allowed to open the windows!
Biophilic design takes root
From playful architecture to pot plants, we explore the many ways to connect buildings with nature.
Get the most from your solar PV for summer cooling
Cooling your house using your rooftop solar system requires a bit of thought and planning, but when you get it right, the savings can be worth it.
Price is right: Is the market finally ready for energy-efficient design?
Too many people are still paying a cost premium for bog-standard energy-efficient design. We try to find out why, and when this will change.
Design workshop: Wetland retreat
WA sustainability experts Sid Thoo and Alex Raynes-Goldie assist a pair of owner-builders to fine-tune their house plans.
On the verge
Verge garden specialist Simon Pawley shares his best nature strip landscape designs, plus tips for creating your own.
Getting rainwater collection right
Need to optimise a new or existing rainwater tank setup? Stuart McQuire gets you started.
