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.