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Clovelly Eco Home - Inner City Sydney

Friday, March 21, 2008

Clovelly House

The Clovelly House is an environmentally friendly three bedroom, semi-detached house, with an in-ground swimming pool and off-street car parking. The house is in Clovelly, an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia.

The home was designed by Kennedy Associates Architects and completed in 2004. It was designed to meet the spatial and accessibility needs of the owner with ambulant disabilities.

The eco house meets best practice in urban design and sustainable design and demonstrates a model for the integration and management of an open plan format with thermal and acoustic comfort.

The house incorporates a range of innovations beyond the normal approaches of passive solar and environmental design, including a vertical ‘green wall’ grey water treatment system, the first of its kind in Australia.

The house has won several prestigious awards for its achievements in integrating sustainable principles and innovations within a strong modernist architectural language and, in particular, for its outstanding performance in water management on a 234m2 site.

Click here to view larger photos of this eco home

Sustainable Features of Clovelly House

The house meets best practice in both urban design and environmental design within a complex and constrained site and brief. Eco friendly features of the house include:

Water saving, treatment and collection

The Clovelly House benchmarks water management technology in residential domestic architecture, including a triple pipe reticulation system to accommodate rainwater harvesting and grey water reuse.

Rainwater harvested from 100sqm of roof area is stored in three 3000 litre tanks. This water is used for the in-ground pool, showers, baths and hand basins. Overflow stormwater is directed to the stormwater pit to recharge the aquifer.

All water on site, excluding black water, is retained and reused on site. The Clovelly House is the first building in Australia to use a 'green wall’ grey water treatment system, designed by Kennedy Associates and Environmental Design and Solutions. Grey water filtered and polished through the wall is diverted for use in the toilet and washing machine.

"The Clovelly House achieves a minimum of 75% reduction in town water usage. That is a saving of approximately, 115,000 litres of water per year in a two person household."

the house benchmarks water management technology including a triple pipe reticulation system to accommodate rainwater harvesting and grey water reuse
retains and reuses all water on site other than black water and is the first building in Australia to use a 'green wall’ grey water treatment system
achieves a minimum 75% reduction in town water usage
treated grey water used for the toilet and washing machine
onsite rainwater storage for 9000 litres used for showers, baths and hand basins
in-ground swimming pool exclusively maintained by on site storage of roof water
onsite management of overflow stormwater to recharge aquifer

Thermal properties

thermal chimneys provide solar space heating and cooling to living areas
skylights enhance passive solar performance of living areas
full insulation of internal and external walls and ceilings
adjustable external louvres to western sun

Eco friendly power and lighting

provision for solar power generation
low wattage lighting, including PL and LED
solar space and water heating including the pool

Eco friendly materils used on the house

zero voc (volatile oganic compounds) / bio paints
vegetable based oils to all timber floors
sustainable timber and building products
minimal use of off-gassing materials
non use of copper in plumbing

Landscape

native and indigenous plantings
green wall utilises bio systems and plantings to purify and polish grey water

Eco friendly appliances

5 star refrigeration
induction heating to stove
solar hot water and pool heating

Architecture of Clovelly House

Apart from benchmarking environmental innovation in an urban contex, the Clovelly House demonstrates the capacity to achieve architectural excellence, including significant spatial generosity within tight sites and difficult urban locations, whilst exemplifying methodologies for managing sites with poor solar access and methodologies for the integration and management of open plan formats with thermal and accostic comfort.

The house is a modern, open plan dwelling focused on meeting the very specific needs of a client with mobility issues.

The house retains the front portion of the semi in its original format and adds a two storey addition at the rear which contains living areas, home office, main bedroom and service areas.

The house is organised around the staircase and central void, which is located at the rear of the house and acts as a pivot around which the house operates.

These spaces accomodate not only the living areas and home office but also the owners' extensive library and art collection. The office, located at the centre of the huse on the upper level, enables the owner to work from home, enjoy the view and control activities within the house, without leaving the upper level.

The rear garden which is divided into two equal courtyard spaces; with one courtyard and pool designed as a continuation of the sequence of living spaces and the second as a garden and service area which provides off street parking and accomodates the water storage systems.

The side walls of the rear courtyard area are formed by the water storage systems, three rain water tanks proving 9000 litres of water storage and the 'green wall' grey water treatment system, whilst the intermediate wall between the courtyards houses the pumps and structures to support the pool and water treatment systems within a slate covered planter box and wall of water / fountain, which fills the pool.

The massing and geometry of the house derives from the square and can be read as a series of solid and open intersecting cubes adorning the 6m site width as the governing dimension. The living area is 12m long, the void 3m long by 6m high, he courtyards 6m long and 6m wide and so on.

This adherence to a basic geometry gives the house a unity, clarity and consistency which results in its having a strong sense of place and in association with the spatial organistation of the house, the house demonstrates the ability to achieve a significant spatial generosity on tight urban sites.

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