Historical information
Newspaper article: A sustainable award, Diamond Valley Leader, 1 November2006, Architect and building Llewellyn Pritchard won resource Efficiency Housing Award, finalist in HIA Greensmart Building of the Year Award.
House – Environmental Leader (Published: Nillumbik Now and Then / Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p186)
In 2006 environmental awareness was mushrooming in the community, which is reflected in the award-winning house at Main Road near Wattletree Road, Eltham.
At first sight, the building appears a mix of a classic Eltham mud-brick house and an avant-garde building style.
The crown of solar panels stretching along the width of the curved roof, indicates that this is no ordinary house. In fact it signals a new building trend of minimal impact on the environment. Yet it utilises the environment with high technical expertise to achieve comfort and cut running and maintenance costs.
In recognition of this, its designer/builder, Conscious Homes, won the 2006 National HIA Greensmart Resource Efficiency Award.
For Conscious Homes director, Llewellyn Pritchard, this house reflects a philosophy, strengthened by his connection with Aboriginal culture, through his foster siblings. Pritchard believes the sustainable way indigenous Australians lived and their spiritual connection with land, demonstrates how humanity is part of the ecology. His interest in environmental design stemmed from growing up in bushy Eltham Shire, with its mud-brick tradition. This was followed by studying Architecture at RMIT in the early 1980s, and learning about passive solar design.
Pritchard says this house demonstrates that environmental sustainability is not about sacrifice, but about exceptional levels of occupant comfort, savings in running costs and modern fittings and appliances.1
The solar panels on the north roofs are intentionally obvious to make a statement about what the building is doing. But inside the systems are hidden and interactive with conventional services, such as the underground water tank.
The house is water and energy self-sufficient and at 12 squares is much smaller than conventional houses, to minimise resources. Yet it accommodates his family of four with three bedrooms, a living/dining and kitchen area and a bathroom/laundry.
Importantly the building is designed to last hundreds of years, by being able to be modified as the need arises, such as for commercial use. In this way the structure minimises its environmental impact. The solid double mud-brick walls (which are insulated) include steel beams and supporting frame, allowing the future removal or alteration of any section.
The materials are local, recycled and of low toxicity where possible.2 Inside and out, the mud-brick is rendered and sealed with a combination of cement and sand and a mud-based coating in a soft golden hue increases its life. Inside, the golden-brown timber is plantation Mountain Ash and the concrete floors throughout – of local stone aggregate with a clear seal – have a natural looking random stone appearance.
The house sustains a stable temperature of around 20 degrees, assisted by the concrete slab floor. The many large double-glazed windows and highlights (windows set high on walls) provide cross-flow ventilation. The north-facing living area maximises heating from the lower winter sun and is cooler in summer, because the sun is higher. Heating comes from a solar hydronic slab system.
All appliances and fittings are high efficiency energy or water rated. Appliances in the timber kitchen include a gas stove and a dishwasher, using the building’s own power and water.
French doors open from the living area to a deck, concealing the treatment system for all waste water. This is pumped through sub-soil drippers to the indigenous garden beds and no-dig vegetable patch.
Below the carport is the 80,000-litre rainwater tank and at the back, the boiler room houses the solar boiler, water tank access, domestic water supply pump, filter gear and hydronic slab heating controls.
The solar system is backed up with gas, which is needed to heat water only in winter. Gas used is less than one quarter of that for an average home with ducted heating. Excess power is fed back to the grid and the building uses about one quarter of the mains electricity of an average home.
Other local builders have followed Pritchard’s lead in resource efficiency for minimal environmental impact.
Physical description
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