By Ande Bunbury Architects
The owners of this property in the inner north of Melbourne were extremely interested in sustainability and keen to maximise the usable garden areas around the home. They were also completely committed to using bicycles for transport and, with two young children, had a variety of bikes including electric cargo bikes that they wanted stored hanging inside the front hallway. The early design meetings were consumed by discussions of how the bicycle storage was going to work and this generated the roof form and height at the front of the house. It also gave the house the nickname in our office The Bike Shed House.
Planning siting requirements often insist that the house has a generous front setback from the street – in this case that equated to the front third of the site being given over to the front garden, an area rarely used. The front garden is a psychological transition space between the public realm and the private zone in the home. Did it really have to take up 150m2? This is the size of a small house in itself. Are these siting requirements responsible for the urban sprawl of Australian cities compared to the rest of the world?
The house has been designed as a number of wings oriented for passive solar gain but also to create two large usable garden areas: a main garden to the north side of the house that extends right to the street at the front, and a productive garden to the rear. The owners love the side garden as it gives them a really good connection to the neighbourhood and they have quickly become part of the local community. Lots of exposed internal thermal mass was used to store winter heat from the sun but this creates lots of sound reverberation and we had one client who is deaf. So, unusually for a residential project, the ceilings of the house are lined with acoustic panels.
Another quirky feature of the house is the rabbit run as the other owner is a vet that specialises in rabbits. Their pet rabbits largely live in the laundry but have access via a cat door into the kitchen, and a bespoke terracotta rabbit-hole to an external run.
Project details
Architect: Ande Bunbury Architects
Engineer: Jonicha Engineering
Builder: S.T.A.R. Kolektiv
All projects by Ande Bunbury Architects have sustainability and energy efficiency at their core.
energy rating 8 stars
hot water
renewable energy
water saving
passive design, heating & cooling
active heating & cooling
building materials
lighting
windows & glazing
paints, finishes and floor coverings
other ESD features
Formed by Ande Bunbury at the turn of the century, Ande Bunbury Architects specialise in energy efficient and sustainable residential design. Winner of various state and national sustainability awards, residential projects by ABA go beyond looking just at sustainability as an energy efficiency measure and recognise that the current climate crisis needs buildings that are future proofed for change, encourage the occupants to use sustainable transport and develop resilience and connection with community. Good architecture should provide for the needs of the occupants of the area (human and not), the local community and the environment.