Saddle Hill House

By Architype

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Perched on a rural site overlooking the Taieri Plains this family home was designed to sit close to the land. The house nestles into the landscape; visible from below only as a horizontal line on the hillside. The house is oriented east-west with the living area to the east and four bedrooms to the west. Service spaces like bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and utility room are organised along the south side of the house within a black clad volume. Adjacent to this is the vehicle court and double garage. The main entry to the house is located on the south side set within a timber box recessed into the black clad volume. Visitors to the house are led through the entry space and out into the living room where large sliding doors provide expansive views over the plains to the Silver Peaks beyond.

Unlike many other homes along these hills, north facing glazing is used sparingly. The whole design of the house has been carefully modelled in the Passive House Planning Package in order to make the most of sun in the winter but not lead to overheating in the summer. Large eaves at the front of the building provide ample shading during the winter months but allow the low winter sun to penetrate deep into the interior spaces.

The external walls and roof of the house are constructed using structural insulated panels, giving them an R value about 3-4 times higher than average. The floor slab is completely insulated including the edges. The windows, built in Mosgiel, are triple glazed, timber framed European style windows and are designed the be completely draft proof. The house is fitted with a German mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems which provides fresh filtered air to every bedroom and living space while constantly extracting stale warm air from the service areas like the bathrooms and kitchen. The result is a house whose natural equilibrium is 20-25 degrees. This is not a house which you have to fight to keep warm during the winter months. This is a house that wants to be warm and dry.

Professionals used in
Saddle Hill House

Architype
Architype
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About the
Professional

Architype is an award winning architectural practice specialising in the design of high performance Passive House and low energy residential and community architecture.

OUR APPROACH

At Architype we believe that good design is worth the effort. We know that building is expensive and to us it just makes sense to put the effort in at the design stage to carefully think through the design and develop solutions which, once constructed, will provide a lifetime of delight for the building users.

We also know that, “delight” is more than just good space planning and elegant building form, it is also about the long term and comfort and energy efficiency of the building. At Architype our focus is on creating buildings which provide warm, healthy and affordable environments for building users.

Comfortable and low energy buildings can’t be created by bolting on solutions at the end of the design process. When understood properly these factors will influence almost every key decision in the design process.

WHAT WE DO DIFFERENTLY

At Architype, in addition to considering important traditional architectural issues like: context, views, town planning, entry, public and private space, circulation and orientation, we add additional design considerations to the mix. These include: favouring compact building forms, appropriate distribution and shading of windows, continuity in insulation, draught proof construction, thermal bridge free detailing and strategies for the simple distribution of ventilation ducting.

We believe that an understanding of building science and a passion for good design should go hand in hand.

Our projects employ a range of high performance building systems and components including high performance timber framing, various types of structural insulated panels, insulated concrete forms, uPVC windows, European timber windows and ventilation systems with heat recovery.

We love to work with clients who are informed and see the value in building better.

BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING

With highly integrated design comes the need for powerful tools for the development and communication of projects. All our projects are modeled using Building Information Modelling software or BIM. Using this powerful software a virtual model of each project is created from which all of the drawings are derived. Change a door on one drawing and it changes in every drawing. As the project progresses from the initial concept design to detailed design, more and more information is added to the model creating a more and more complete reflection of the final building. We are able to export files to our clients who can explore the design in 3D on their own computer or tablet. More than ever before this has allowed our clients to visualise and understand their projects before any work begins on site. Not only has this improved communication but it also results in fewer changes on site.

We can also leverage the digital model to quickly create additional deliverables like sun studies, energy modelling, schedules and promotional material.