Hidden secret
This is an excerpt from an article in Sanctuary magazine issue 5.
What do you do when you find a great holiday house? Do you tell everyone and risk never being able to rent it again? Or keep it to yourself and feel horribly guilty? Boorman Eco Retreat in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland poses just this dilemma. It’s a self-sufficient luxury holiday house in a sublime location, at one with its environment. As you step over the threshold a blanket of calm envelops you. You will not want to leave.
Located on 125 acres of pristine bushland, the house sits on a plateau and looks down over the Obi Obi Valley. Designed by Mapleton-based architect Philip Boorman, the house is just one room wide and this, combined with plenty of windows and timber floors, evokes a sense of veranda living.
Philip has been interested in designing with the environment in mind for quite some time. “My architectural design work has been evolving toward eco-housing over the last 20 years. World events have focused people’s minds in this direction recently.” His years of experience show in a house that is comfortable, stylish and smart.
Corrugated steel features on the external walls and roof and ethically sourced spotted gum is used on the portico and eaves. The lines are clean and spare but familiar at the same time, reminiscent of homestead living. Inside, a variety of timbers and splashes of colour in soft furnishings and fittings bring the spaces to life. This is a fun holiday home. Being one room wide allows for excellent cross ventilation and, furthermore, Philip says it’s built to “human scale, where you are never more than three steps away from a window or a door.”
Philip has explored every possible way of making the house comfortable no matter what the season. The dwelling sits up off the ground, which keeps indoors cooler in summer as it improves cross ventilation and also reduces the building’s physical impact on the block. Bulk insulation in all walls and ceilings keeps the heat out in summer and retains it in winter. Roof sarking with a fibreglass blanket provides further insulation and, used in the walls, acts as a sound barrier as well. The house has been oriented north to allow for maximum winter solar gain. Passive solar heating is supplemented by a slow-combustion fireplace.
Power comes from a solar photovoltaic system mounted on the garage roof and a generator provides back-up if required. A solar hot water system reduces the need for power to heat water. Fluorescent recessed lights and downlights with energy-saver lamps save power as well. Water is supplied via 65,000 litre concrete tanks and a 12,500 litre custom orb header tank which does not collect water but helps increase water pressure.
On the western side of the house windows are kept to a minimum to protect the bedrooms from the hot afternoon sun in summer. Floor-to-ceiling screened, louvred windows next to each bed ensure breezes can be directed through these rooms.
