This modern but timeless home designed around a versatile U-shaped plan is one of many outstanding entries in the Look Green Home Design Awards.

When architect Sharon Fraser went searching for a site for her family home in the Byron Bay hinterland in northern NSW she wanted sweeping rural views and a quick 20 minute drive to the beach. She found a location with both; an elevated 25 acre green field site that was also relatively flat, so that it didn’t need to be 'sculptured' to accommodate them.

Fraser is the owner and architect of Amileka, a four bedroom U-shaped home with ‘wings’ that also incorporates her office. “Our views were to the west,” Fraser says, “so a U-shaped plan was developed to maximise these views without compromising our precious north aspect to virtually all areas.”

The view-facing west wing contains indoor and outdoor living spaces and master bedroom while the north wing contains office and bathroom, and the south wing the remaining bedrooms, laundry and bathroom. All the bedrooms in the south wing get a northerly aspect because of central courtyard formed by the U-shape. This plan also maximises the occupants’ comfort by providing the separation between sleeping and living spaces (and office and home), as well cross ventilation.

“We wanted a timeless and flexible modern building; simple but not simplistic, robust and industrial, but not cold and unliveable. It had to take advantage of the sweeping views while retaining north aspect to virtually all areas. We wanted the various different areas and their functions to be reflected in the choice of colour, material and weight,” Fraser says.

Lightweight materials were chosen for the ‘wings’ of the home. Fraser selected Scyon™ Linea™ weatherboard as she’d used it for clients’ projects in the past and liked its contemporary look. “Materials and colour emphasise the different wings,” she says. “The two lightweight fully insulated side wings are a stark contrast in a very dark colour.”

Lightweight materials mix well with the massive at Amileka. The entire concrete slab is fully insulated and the design of the house allows the sun to enter virtually all rooms in winter but not in summer. Ceiling fans are in all rooms for the occasional more extreme higher temperatures, but the temperature inside the house is virtually a constant throughout winter and summer.

“There’s no air-conditioning - and certainly no need for it based on what has been achieved in the design,” Fraser says. “I actually hate air conditioning anyway, who wants to feel like they live in a plane!”

A commercial solar-heated hydronic underfloor heating system was also used. Fraser says it cost more to install than electrical underfloor heating, but it’s more energy efficient to run. “It simply reticulates the solar heated domestic hot water throughout the entire slab, and only uses gas when solar cannot be relied upon (quite rarely in this context). The system is zoned into 9 areas so that only areas in use are heated.”

Photovoltaic cells have been installed on the roof to create electricity and the house has been designed to install further arrays of photovoltaic cells over coming years. Adjustable electronic louvre blade pergolas were used in the large outdoor terrace so that when opened, the adjacent interior spaces don't become darker and colder in winter months.

Fraser says that traditional wrap around verandas “don’t do most of the adjacent interior spaces any favors in terms of light and sun control. Vergola solves this problem, while also providing total flexibility to the space.” Fraser also used transparent retractable shade screens along the perimeter of the western façade so that harsh western sun in summer can be filtered before hitting the building, preventing heat transfer in to the interior.

“They also double up as insect screens,” Fraser says. “So even though our main areas face west, we don’t suffer the consequences in summer. Even the outdoor terrace can be screened.”

Finally oversized, unconventional windows and doors were used to help with openness and cross ventilation, but also for their architectural benefits. “We used pivot doors that were up to 2.4m wide, and sliders that were combined in 3.3m long leaves creating 6.6m openings,” she says.

“Even where the more conventionally sized sliding doors are used, they are designed to slide open over the external fabric of the building, providing 100 per cent opening rather than the conventional 50 per cent. All of these elements that doubled our cross ventilation, also doubled the ventilation quotient in the BASIX calculations.”

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Look Green Home Design Awards Amileka is an entrant in the new home category in the Look Green Home Design Awards These national awards will reward the best in affordable, sustainable and innovative design. If you’re a designer or builder, enter your project today and you could win one of a number of trips to the world's biggest green building conference in the US. You can also vote to choose the three 'Popular Choice' awards.

Find out more about voting, entering and prizes at www.lookhome.com.au.

Architecture & Design Team

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