8.8 Tanja, New South Wales

This fully autonomous home generates its own power, provides for its own heating and cooling, harvests rainwater and recycles wastewater. The use of low embodied energy materials and modular, prefabricated construction reduces the demand for material resources.

DESIGN BRIEF

The owner, a renowned artist and academic, required a house for himself and his extended family and friends, and a studio for his artwork. As he has frequent visits from family and friends, a separate wing was needed to allow them comfort and privacy.

Contact with the natural surroundings was important to the owner. He had lived for many years in a remote rural location and desired a house that would support his simple lifestyle but with a greater degree of comfort than the barn that he had been using for the last 12 years.

The house was to be fully autonomous, given the remote location – generating its own power, providing its own water and treating its own wastewater. The owner had grown most of his food in the past and wished to continue to do so in an area with abundant wildlife.

As he travels extensively the house also had to be secure during his absences.

Innovative use of materials and construction techniques was a long standing interest of the owner’s. He was keen to use the house as a ‘test case’ for prefabricated materials, to minimise on site waste and to explore creative passive solar design responses using low cost construction. The owners interest, as a sculptor, in the ‘honesty’ of materials and construction is reflected in the ‘raw’ nature of this construction.

LOCATION AND CLIMATE

The house is located in Tanja, NSW, on a bush block adjacent to a National Park. The owner selected a suitable site for the house in a secluded valley and then donated the remaining land back to the National Park, so the house is almost entirely surrounded by National Park. The house site itself is a gentle north-facing slope with a dam created at the bottom and the tree line retained on the crest.

The climate is mild temperate (New South Wales far south coast) with mild summers and cool to cold winters with relatively high rainfall. The concerns of the local Council about the planning of the house were limited, as it cannot be seen from any public area of the park or local roads. [See: 4.2 Design for Climate; 2.2 Choosing a Site]

DESIGN RESPONSE

The design concept for the house is a long, thin string of indoor and outdoor rooms. The kitchen/living/dining area and bedrooms are grouped into separate mini houses with a courtyard between each.

EVALUATION

This case study is an excellent example of the numerous possibilities that exist for reducing a home’s environmental impact. As a fully autonomous house, all water and energy resources are generated on site.

The remote area power system generates electricity from solar energy, rainwater is harvested for domestic use, fallen logs are collected for auxiliary heating, and vegetables and fruit grown on site reduce the need to import food for household consumption.

Prefabricated modular construction has also been used in an innovative way to minimise materials wastage.

The remote location of the home inspired its autonomous nature, however transport to and from the home is by motor vehicle. The dependence of occupants of remote sites on motor vehicles often significantly increases environmental impact. In this case study, the owner lives and works on the site for lengthy periods, reducing travel requirements.

Principal author:
Caitlin McGee

A joint initiative of the Australian Government and the design and construction industries.

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