Built by Natural Lifestyle Homes, Sustainable Home Brisbane is a two-level home which contains 4-bedrooms and 3-bathrooms set on a gently sloping site. An elevated walkway from the street allows easy access to the primary upper living level.
Architects Bligh Voller Nield designed an elegant, contemporary Queenslander that responds to the site's views, orientation, and ecologically sensitivities, and reflects the region's subtropical climate.
The design has a minimal ecological footprint and attempts to respect the site's environmental values such as natural drainage flows for stormwater run-off and remnant vegetation, which has been retained for the area's biodiversity.
An important feature is a roof and ceiling design that promotes the benefits of natural ventilation for cooling in summer, and in conjunction with thermal mass, for heating during winter.
Materials have been carefully selected so they have low embodied energy and low toxicity. Where possible, they are sourced from renewable or recycled resources.
Through the Sustainable Homes Program, Government and industry have partnered to build a number of sustainable houses throughout Queensland. A key objective of this initiative was to demonstrate and promote the importance of investing in sustainable design at the household and community level, in order to increase the demand from home owners and builders.
The design respects the intrinsic ecological value of the indigenous vegetation, animal habitats and the nature of the Brisbane River Corridor.
In
2006
Natural Lifestyle Homes won the HIA
Greensmart Building of the Year
award for Sustainable Home
Brisbane. This award was given
to the residential
building that best incorporated Greensmart through
cost-effective environmental
features and practices in its
construction and operation. The
project also won a HIA
Greensmart Water Efficiency
Housing Award, which recognised
innovative and replicable
approaches to integrated water
management in a housing project.
