Consultation with Griff Morris, Solar Dwellings

We visited Solar Dwellings for an introductory consultation with Director, Griff Morris. Griff asked us about our lot and our broad requirements for our home. He explained in detail the design process used by Solar Dwellings and the pricing model they have adopted. The latter is a percentage of the base building cost and is paid in stages during construction. This ensures that Solar Dwellings has a stake in successful completion of the home's construction.

Solar Dwellings

Solar Dwellings is a designer of passive-solar, energy-efficient homes in Perth and regional Western Australia. The company is headed by Griff Morris, whose work is mentioned several times in Cool House Warm House. Solar Dwellings designed the Subiaco Sustainable Demonstration Home and the Sustainable Mandurah Home.

Subiaco Sustainable Demonstration Home

The Subiaco Sustainable Demonstration Home was a project aimed at promoting sustainable housing. Features of the home include:

• Passive solar design: orientation, room layout, glazing, roof ventilation, raked ceilings, cross-ventilation
  
• Renewable energy: photo-voltaic array and inverter to grid
  
• Solar hot water
• Lighting and appliance selection: energy-efficient lighting and appliances
  
• Insulation: bulk insulation and reflective insulation in walls, roof and ceiling
• Accessibility: designed for people of all abilities
• Water conservation: grey-water reuse and rainwater harvesting
• Productive, low-maintenance, water-wise landscaping
• Solid waste recycling: containers, worm farm
  
• Water feature

The home was designed by Solar Dwellings and built by Glenway Homes.

The Sustainable Mandurah Home

In January my wife visited the Sustainable Mandurah Home. It demonstrates several features of sustainable home design. These include:

• passive-solar design: orientation, glazing, shading, solar louvres, insulation and eco-vents
  
• energy-efficiency: photo-voltaic cells, gas-boosted solar hot-water system, low-energy appliances
• water-efficiency: water-wise landscaping, grey-water re-use, storm-water capture, water-efficient appliances, AAA-rated taps and shower-heads
  
• materials & furnishings: thermal mass, materials sourced from renewable resources, low-allergenic and low-toxicity materials
  
• waste: recycling containers, composting facilities

The home was designed by Solar Dwellings and was built by project-home builder by Ultimate Homes (Peter Stannard).

Book: Warm House, Cool House

I read the book Warm House Cool House (Inspirational designs for low-energy housing) by Nick Hollo.

Warm House Cool House explains the five primary principles behind designing homes for thermal comfort in Australia's various climatic regions:

1. Orientation of the main living areas toward the north, to allow maximum sunshine when it's needed for warmth, and to most easily exclude the sun's heat when it's not needed.
2. Glazing used to trap the sun's warmth inside the house when it is needed, and otherwise to shade and protect the house from unwanted heat gain or heat loss.
3. Thermal mass to store heat from the sun when it is required and to provide a heat sink when we need to be cooler.
4. Insulation to reduce unwanted heat loss or heat gain through the roof, walls and floors.
5. Ventilation to provide fresh air and capture cooling breezes.
   

These principles are illustrated throughout the book with photos, sketches and plans (including a colour section). All the examples are Australian from all our different climatic zones.

The principles and examples are discussed in the following contexts:

• new houses,
• project homes,
• higher density housing, and
  
• renovating and/or extending existing homes.

The Lot

Our lot is 642m² with a 16.7m frontage and 38.42m length.

The long axis of the block runs north-south, with the street frontage along the sorthern border. This makes it ideal for passive-solar design.

Our north-eastern neighbour has a large Moreton Bay Fig tree in their backyard. The tree shades our backyard, which might reduce our ability to capture morning, winter sun.

There are two sewerage easements, one running along the western perimeter of the block, the other running along the northern perimeter.

Introduction

In September 2006, we purchased an old 1950s house in Mosman Park, Western Australia. Our plan is to let the house during 2007, demolish it and build a new house during 2008, then move into the new house in 2009.

Our broad requirements are as follows:

• three bedrooms
• two bathrooms, one being an the master bedroom's en-suite.
• a study/home office.

We also want the house to

1. incorporate passive solar design
2. be energy-efficient
3. be water-wise