Location: Mirboo, East Gippsland, Victoria
Country: Australia
Awards: Highly Commended Single Dwelling (Alterations & Extensions) in the Building Product News Environ Sustainability Awards 2008
Who lives there: Colin Goodwin & Libby Anthony. The owners currently use it as a holiday home/farm house but plan to move in full time when they retire.
How many rooms: Open plan design with a master bedroom, ensuite, airlock/laundry, two bedrooms/workrooms, study, lounge, kitchen and dining room and a carport.
Brief: To design a contemporary, sustainable house made from straw bales using an existing post and beam structure and to design a home that required minimal heating or cooling.
What makes this house special?
- It is an energy surplus building, meaning that it generates more electricity than the household consumes. When the owners move in full time, it will become a zero energy building.
- The house recently won Highly Commended Single Dwelling (Alterations & Extensions) in the Building Product News Environ Sustainability Awards 2008.
- Minimal heating and cooling required despite external temperatures exceeding 40°c in summer and dropping to an average of 13°c in winter.
- Passive solar design.
- All household water supplied by rainwater collected from the roof.
- On site worm farm composting waste system and all waste treated on site.
- Existing post and beam structure modified and reused for new house structure.
Set on 5.3 hectares or rural land.Key features:
- Curved straw bale walls which give the home a rustic character and assist with insulation.
- High levels of insulation due to double glazed windows, straw bale walls and a thermal mass concrete slab with ceramic tiled floor.
- Black wood from site used for joinery.
- Solar hot water.
- No need for additional heating and cooling apart from a few ceiling fans and a combustion wood stove for very cold days. All wood for the stove is sourced from the farm land.
- Roofing made from COLORBOND® steel used to provide weather protection and create a large roof span that could maximise rainwater collection.
Use of steel and colours:
- Roofing made from COLORBOND® steel in the colour Surfmist®
- Wall cladding made from COLORBOND® steel
- Fascia and guttering made from COLORBOND® steel in the colour Deep Ocean®
