Settled quietly into the south west hills landscape in Quindalup this residential retreat  was commissioned by an owner keen to explore sustainable design at a deeper level.  A very firm part of the brief was - "I do not want to be cold!"

In addition to the usual careful attention paid to orientation, insulation, shading and glazing, Northlight approached this with an "active but low tech" solution  to achieve additional winter heating in this cool climate area.

The most significant sustainable design feature of this residence is the integrated greenhouse, which is the heat engine for the residence during winter.

Warm air is passed from the green house, using low wattage fans into three thermal massses: A granite filled subfloor trench under the living rooms and a "water wall" in each of the bedroom suites. The stored heat is then passively exchanged with the rooms near each thermal mass.

Electricity for the fans is "paid for" by the 3kW grid-connect solar photovoltaic system installed as part of the project, with plenty of energy to spare.

The greenhouse will eventually grow tropical fruits and other warm climate plants, bringing the north west  to the south west.

This project also owes its success to the great  care, consideration and support given by the builder  Mike Valmadre, see his website here

All photograph credits to  Fraser McAlpine.

To find out more about how the green house, hypocaust and waterwalls work see our  How To's pages here