Sustainable Housing
Uploaded by 8drian on Jul 19, 2007
B. The Justification of my design
2.0 Introduction
This sustainable house has been built to comply with the Brisbane climate and weather throughout the year to increase the comfort of the home. The overall design has been aimed to maximise both indoor and outdoor areas so that both can be equally enjoyed. The house’s design will be further discussed through the follow eight criteria.
2.1 Aspect and Site
Aspect and site are one of the most important criteria to a sustainable house because they are the foundation for the efficient design of a house. In this house, the facing of north has been maximised to let the sun penetrate through in winter and block the sun in summer. This is followed out through the positioning of the living room. The living room is exposed to maximum sunlight from the north side through the bi-fold doors so that it can be kept warm in winter but also cool in summer because it is away from east and westerly sun. There is also very little obstruction to the northerly sun because the house is design in an L shape which clears most of the northern block of the land. This can help the sun pass into the house with ease. However, there are tall trees to the north of the land. This can pose a problem to the capturing of the sunlight. Therefore, these trees are made into deciduous trees. This can reduce the problem by up to 25% as the leaves of the trees will disappear in winter allowing the sun to pass through. As a result, the aspect and site of the house has been modified to best suit the climate of Australia.
2.2 Building Materials
Building materials can be hard to choose from but if done correctly, insulation and temperature control can benefit from it. This house is built with lightweight external material being termite-resistant timber framed construction so that it can cool down quickly in summer. These walls are...