SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DESIGN

SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DESIGN

CIVE005

Design Brief

The proposed single dwelling development is located within the Monash City Council Subdivision – SD27375 plot No. 0005. It is designed as per the planning provisions stipulated in the Monash City Council Guidelines. This project incorporates passive design strategies to try and save on energy costs as well as have the lowest possible carbon footprint to the environment.

This plot is located approximately 200m from Nolan Gardens along Rod Street. The plot is well nested between two adjacent plots of the same size with an access road to the West and a boundary wall to the East. It has a 4% slope towards the East and an easement of 3m along the back face for easy drainage. The plot is oriented in the East-West directions providing ample room to experiment with modern passive design ideas.

The house sits on a 360m2 plot with a frontal width of 18m and a side length of 35m, making it a perfect rectangle. The house itself has a total livable floor area of 280m2, with 170m2 going to the ground floor and 110m2 going to the first floor. The proposed residential house unit will have a minimalist approach to its Design, with an exterior finished by stucco white render and a light grey slate roof supported by timber rafters.

Nolan Garden is 200m south from the plot, offering inhabitants somewhere to have quality time and appreciate nature. It is distant to LL Park, making it suitable for those who prefer a quiet and serene environment. In terms of accessibility, the plot can be easily accessed from Rod Street with the driveway access located to the left-hand corner of the plot (looking from the access road). Service connections (gas, water, electricity, communication) are located at the right-hand corner of the plot (looking from the access road).

Passive Design

Passive designs are building designs that maximize energy from climate and other natural elements to provide a comfortable living space while minimizing dependency on mechanical means for lighting, heating, and cooling. This, in turn, saves the owner energy costs that would have been used to provide a comfortable living space.

Climate

Our proposed building project is located in the suburbs of Melbourne in Monash; this area is in the ‘Mild temperature’ climate zone according to the Australian building codes Board (BCA). It experiences four seasons as described below;

Summer, which is hot with an average high daily temperature of above 85^o C, experienced from late November to early March.

Winter, which is cold and windy with an average daily temperature below 65^o C, is experienced from mid-May to late August.

Spring and autumn; provide a comfortable temperature, and it’s experienced in the other months.

Wind

Wind direction varies in Monash, with winds from the North being experienced during the months of May to June, winds from the West being experienced from June to September, and winds from the South being experienced from September to May.

Passive Design Principles Applied

Orientation

Our plot is oriented in the East-West direction; this has it possible to place our living spaces towards the North and our utility spaces towards the South with most rooms facing the equator. This allows our living spaces to take full advantage of the energy provided by the low lying sun during winter enabling the sun’s rays to infiltrate deeper in the living spaces providing adequate heat and light.

Another advantage of orienting the building in the building in the East-West directions is to allow the South winds experienced from the month of September to May to cross through and cool the building since extreme temperatures are experienced from November to March. However, some deciduous trees will be required to reduce the intensity of the wind.

Building Shape

For the building shape, we took a more rectangular approach to our Design. This allows for the better placing of windows in livable spaces to allow for maximum effect of the sun’s lighting. Corners were also minimized in our Design to create longer straits; this is because corners have a tendency to cast a shadow, preventing light from reaching the desired areas.

Choice of materials

Careful considerations were made on the materials to be used in the building project. For the exterior, a white render was used for the longer parts of the wall in conjunction with light grey roof shingles. The purpose of these bright materials is to create a reflective surface to reduce the amount of heat being absorbed by the building during summer.

For the windows, the building is designed with double glazing windows, which are manufactured with an inert gas in between two glass panes to help improve thermal resistance. This enables the house to minimize heat loss during winter and heat gain during summer, thus helping the building to regulate its room temperature. In addition, Double glazed glass also acts as a good sound barrier; this is ideal for inhabitants who would like to reduce outside noise from getting in.

Thermal Mass

The floors were designed to use precast concrete blocks, the reason for this is concrete provides a good thermal mass, absorbing a substantial amount of heat energy from the sun through conductions at daytime and releasing it back to the building during the night especially in winter when the sun shines low, the concrete mass also help in cooling the house during winter as when in contact with the ground, it helps dissipate heat from the building, these create a comfortable environment for inhabitants.

Landscaping

The site plan was prepared in such a way as to reduce concrete paving and to have more green areas. The reasoning behind this was so as to have less heat observant surfaces that will increase the heat around the house and cause the heat island effect. The solution is to have more natural surfaces like grass that will not absorb a lot of heat.

The site plan also involves the planting of trees around the building; this helps in three ways; firstly they will provide as shading effect to the building reducing direct sunlight; secondly they will act as a sound barrier for the site especially if planted around the site, and lastly, they will control wind intensity towards the site by reducing the speed of strong winds and allowing light breezes to be utilized to cool the house.

Shading

Apart from the use of trees to provide shading effect, the residential house is designed with alternative architectural shading devices like louvers on the front left side windows, overhangs at the main entrances, recessed windows around the building, prolonged walls to shade livings spaces and an 800mm roof eave to shade the upper floor windows and a pergola on the east side balcony for shading user who wants to take advantage of the open space. Window blinds will also be installed to add extra protection against glare.

Making Openings Airtight

Another method used in the project to prevent heat loss in winter is by sealing around the edges of openings; studies show that air leakage account for 15-25% of all heat lost in a domestic dwelling is through gaps in openings like windows and doors. This happens because the gaps let in cold air, thus resulting in more heat being required to warm the house.

Breezeway Design

Most windows in residence have been strategically positioned in the North-South direction. This is because in the Monash during the hot summer months, winds blow from the South. This will allows inhabitants to open their windows in the summertime and let in cool air through the house.

Insulation

This project is designed with reflective insulations at the roof level to prevent heat loss by radiations, and mineral wool in the wall cavity to prevent heat loss by conduction.

Achieving Planning Regulations

Monash City Council requires of us to achieve council building guidelines by implementing them in our Design to get approved. These regulations are listed in the table below, together with what we have been able to achieve.