The Oakura house embodies a winning formula: modern architecture, functional design and the highest level of energy efficiency. Despite the common prejudices that Passive Houses are often limited in terms of architectural expression and unfairly treated as boring, the opposite is demonstrated with this design.
The journey for this project started when the clients were living overseas so the design process was conducted remotely. Modern architectural software can now create full 3D views of the design set into the local landscape. This really helped with visualisation and the confidence to know that the design ticked all the boxes before construction started.
Also a significant asset was having the local eHaus construction team, Steve and Susie Hofmans, available to contribute knowledge and insight from the first visit to site. Information on costs, material selections and high-performance details from the construction team are included as an integral part of each design process.
Steve and Susie worked closely with Vlada Acimovic of Sustainable Architecture, which is part of the eHaus designHaus bespoke design team. All these obvious qualities, together with superb craftsmanship, ensured this stunning house won six 2021 House of the Year awards, including Top 100 selection. However, the testimony of the clients says much more.
We are very pleased with the new house. It is just as we had envisioned from your plans and the performance has been excellent. We have not needed to use any heating since the first weekend we moved in, and everyone who visits is very impressed as soon as they walk in with the warmth through the house. Vlada was fantastic to work with during the design and construction of our eHaus. We achieved exactly what we wanted based on our brief: a warm and comfortable home that is also stylish and modern. Vlada was responsive and accommodating of our requests and suggested several improvements and layout choices which have proven very insightful. We now have a comfortable and highperforming home that has matched the design quality and efficiency and has been recognised both by the Master Builders awards and the Passivhaus Institute with certification.
