Exceeding expectations
This is an excerpt from an article in Sanctuary magazine issue 6.
After living in the suburbs, John and Maggie were looking for a lively inner-urban lifestyle close to parklands and work. Years of looking for the right property finally paid off when they found Ada Street, in the southeast of Adelaide’s ‘square mile’ CBD.
Ada Street is a narrow one-way enclave, where street-front housing and on-street parking has fostered community. Neighbours catch up regularly, and Maggie even plays in a recorder group with other locals.
The house had enough room on the back for an addition and enough width to face north – which was important, because with rising power costs, increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall, the restored 1870s bluestone cottage and its addition needed to be future-proofed for tough times ahead. “We didn’t have an energy target as such, but the long-term thinking was we needed a house we could live in using minimal power,” John explains.
The home designed to harvest and save as much water as possible – from rainwater collection and 6-star rated taps and showerheads to the latest greywater technology. Thus it has the potential to be 100 per cent water self-reliant – as long as the rain keeps falling.
“We didn’t have an open chequebook, so we had to be limited by our budget,” John says, “but we believe this is how people should be designing and building: utilising thermal mass and natural cooling systems, and by using heating systems that don’t entirely rely on gas and electricity.
“We also firmly believe in improving the environmental performance of existing dwellings. Extending this philosophy to Ada St meant that heating and cooling systems on the addition feed into the original cottage, and the cottage’s thermal performance was improved significantly with the installation of insulation”.
Motivation also came from an encounter with a young couple who had recently bought a two-storey, brick veneer modern home. Built on the wrong orientation they couldn’t use the upstairs in summer, even with air-conditioning. “It’s just unbearable for them,” John says.
The addition is a perfect advertisement for John’s work as an environmental architect. But it’s more than just a showcase, it’s a labour of love. Maggie has recorded all the triumphs and trials of the two-year design and building process for a graphic documentary. The result is a house that simply makes the most of its environment. “And it’s fantastic to live in,” says Maggie.
