Killara House
Sited in a lush green belt of Sydney's north. Our brief was to create a quintessentially Australian home of understated elegance, and to incorporate passive services and systems to ensure a minimum running carbon footprint for the life of the building.
A large house already, it was re-structured to accommodate 3 generations of family – allowing for privacy and communal living as desired. The original house was built up against a rock ledge, which runs along the back of the site and dictated the location of the existing swimming pool beside – what was, the first floor sleeping quarters.
Our redesign gathered all the family living areas to the first floor, added a new pool house pavilion adjacent and centred the focus of these living spaces out onto the pool – providing for ample separation of the bedrooms from the public realm of the house.
This left the ground floor free to create a master bedroom ‘wing’ inclusive of a private sitting and study areas that enjoyed, the long ago-established magnolia garden in the front landscaping.
The client's emphasis on building a house with a minimum running carbon footprint saw the inclusion of a large water harvesting system. Enough photovoltaics located on the northern exposed rake of the roof, to power the entire house and a solar air freshener system that manages air temperature and exchanges between outside and in to ensure – particularly on the ground floor areas – there is continual fresh air exchange – even when the windows are closed.
As an additional measure – a thermostatically controlled fan in the attic was designed to either release hot air accumulated in this space into the living areas in winter or to release it outside in summer.
Ceiling fans are used extensively through the house, as is motion sensored LED lighting.
Landscaping utilising drought resistant planting has also contributed significantly to unnecessary water usage.
And in short the house generates enough power and water to service its needs.