Product Description
Issue contents
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.
