Sustainable beauty in Waverley

This modern home in Waverley has been designed with a long list of sustainable features and was a finalist for the BPN Sustainability Award (new house division). Architect Simon Anderson of Anderson Architecture said: “The primary challenge involved maximizing passive solar design by opening up to the northern sun without compromising the solar access of the house to the south or overexposing to the west. The large, open plan, living space is balanced with more private areas such as the family room to the front of the house, the secluded balcony off the master bedroom and the 1st floor terrace which is sheltered from the weather and a winter sun trap. These features have allowed for a versatile design that can accommodate and adapt to the family, while remaining a reasonable overall scale.”

Sustainable features: recycled timbers, solar hydronic floor heating, 2 storey central masonry wall as heatsink and solar collector, double glazed low E windows, low VOC paints, extensive thermal modeling to determine optimum passive solar design and achieve 8/10 star rating, 14,000 litres rainwater storage under garage, trees and grapevines integrated as shading devices, operable shading devices such as moving roof over deck and external louvres, external shading systems, selected windows and skylights controlled by Cbus based on information from internal and external temperature sensors, wind & rain sensors to provide active control to assist passive solar design.

[Photography by Nick Bowers]