The Machinery Shed
h4>From Sanctuary issue 11. More articles like this
Sanctuary magazine issue 11 – The Machinery Shed – North Watson, ACT green home profile
Words Rachael Bernstone
Photography Sophie Seck
Excerpt: When Keith and Gillian Helyar decided to build a new house in Canberra, they drew plenty of inspiration from houses they visited during Sustainable House Day. So it seems fitting that they should open their home to the public to share the knowledge they accumulated during the course of designing, building and occupying their environmentally friendly abode. “We weren’t intending to build initially,” Keith Helyar says. “We looked around at Canberra houses, but we couldn’t find what we wanted. Then this block came up, and we thought we could start from scratch here.” “It was attractive because of the Mt Majura Nature Reserve across the road, which can’t be built out, and also because it’s easy to get into the city,” explains Gillian. “Then we visited a number of homes on Sustainable House Day in Canberra and we gained a lot of knowledge. It was really stimulating.” “Sustainable House Day is great because you can look at so many ideas in a short time, and then adapt them for your own home,” Keith adds. “We were conscious of the need for northern exposure, but the concept of building a house in Canberra with no heating or cooling was foreign to us then.”
