Tree House
By Envirotecture
The owners of this award-winning house wanted a sustainable home that would cater for their growing family, a separate granny flat for overseas visitors all with a treehouse feel.
The site in North Narrabeen had lots of established trees, views of the coast and was very steep, sloping away from the road. This contributed to the challenge of providing universal access to the main living area of the house.
Project Details
The budget was modest, dictating the construction method remained lightweight. Therefore the best insulation details and thermally broken, double glazed windows were installed to help maintain the house’s passive solar approach. Hydronic heating was also installed to boost the comfort levels in winter.
Under the garage, 4 x 18,000L rainwater tanks harvest the roof water used for the whole of the house. a 2.5 Kw PV system provides the houses electricity needs and the solar hot water system with gas boost provides the domestic hot water and hot water for the hydronic heating and on occasion the suspended pool.
The house is clad in a combination of Weathertex weatherboards and Colorbond steel providing a durable and sustainable exterior. Windows and doors are AWS Thermal Heart thermally broken double glazed products. Emu Timbers supplied the pre-weathered recycled bluegum cladding at the entry and poolside walls. Insulation is Greenstuf post-consumer recycled PET, and double-sided foil.
All timbers used are recycled, FSC or bamboo and all paints are zero or low VOC.
A webinar featuring this property, its owners and our very own Dick Clarke was cast in June 2012.
This project won the Sustainable Residential Building Award 2013 at the Building Design Australia design awards, in August 2013.
It also won an award from the manufacturers of the thermally broken double glazed windows and doors, AWS Vantage, in 2012, for its use of the Thermal Heart suite.
Photography by Dick Clarke
Professionals used in
Tree House
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About the
Professional
At Envirotecture we design beautiful, sustainable buildings that work for you, your family or your business.
With over 35 years’ experience in sustainable architecture, we can offer you a full range of building design and consulting services to deliver the best possible built outcome for your build.
Facilitate and future-proof your lifestyle with our cost-effective designs that provide stylish design solutions. See our sustainable design portfolio.
We Design for Comfort
Our designs, using state-of-the-art materials and passive design principles, will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter.
We Design for Style
You want you to enjoy spaces that inspire your soul. We will design your building so that it not only works really well, it looks great too!
We Design for Value
We can give you the biggest bang for your buck. Our sustainable designs are an affordable alternative to traditional design and will significantly reduce your long-term operating costs.
We Design for the Environment
When you chose our sustainable architectural solutions your build will have a direct beneficial impact on the environment by helping to:
- protect the ecosystem
- reduce emissions
- improve air and water quality
- conserve water
- reduce waste
- conserve and restore natural resources
We Design for the Future
Our architectural solutions will help create you a responsive, beautiful, energy efficient home that will continue to work for you and your family as your needs changes.
Sustainable design will also optimize the life cycle of your building and increase your property value.
We use the latest technology to ensure clever, creative design solutions that last the distance.
We Design for Business
You want your commercial building to provide environmental, economic and social benefits to your business.
We can design your building to:
- help reduce your operating costs
- improve workplace environment
- optimize the life cycle of your building
- increase your property value
- improve your employee’s attendance and productivity
We Believe in Giving Back
At Envirotecture we always have a pro bono project, or ‘love job’ on the go.
The current Love Job is for the Read Triplets who are wheelchair bound with muscular dystrophy
Previous love jobs include:
- Wakisa Foundation's shelter for homeless pregnant girls in Kampala, Uganda
- the Laotian School project
We Believe in Sustainable Architecture
We have over 35 years’ experience in sustainable design, and our team are all leaders in their fields.
We each bring different skill sets to the business but we all are inspired by sustainable design because we see the difference it makes on so many levels.
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