BREATHE

August 12, 2010

BREATHE

The Orrong Road House by Breathe Architecture

Breathe Architecture have designed the Orrong Road House in Melbourne, Australia.

Todays post comes from Melbourne, Australia. I love how the firm's name is BREATHE, and this particular house (I'm sure many more of their designs) is very concerned with natural ventilation and mitigating natural light & heat from the sun. I don't have a ton to say about this as I am posting what the architects have to say. One little thing I did notice that I'm not a fan of, is the placement of a window in the shower/bath. I have a window right in our shower, and besides the awkward loss of privacy (even frosted glass leaves little to the imagination), is the potential for water to enter the window frame. Ours is rotting, and you can see water dripping down from the window on the outside. Okay, so my appartment is 60 years old and wood framed, but I feel like there is a potential for water to enter the building envelope, and anyone who has taken building science (particularly from Tang Lee) will know that water is the ENEMY. Better double wrap that vapour barrier. In any case, this is still al lovely example of sustainable residential design.

Description from the architects:

The sun and wind are channelled through the streets of this beach side suburb, deep into the plan of this once dark and damp Edwardian home. An oasis like space now waits at the rear of the old dwelling bathed in light and cooled by the sea breeze in summer.
By peeling away the former addition and reorientating the floor plan to maximise solar access, the new building enhances the quality and functionality of the interior throughout.
The roof pitches down to the south, preventing overshadowing of adjoining properties and assisting natural ventilation circulating through low and high level openings. An insulated floor slab with embedded hydronic heating coils and double glazed Jarrah (Class 2) windows, provides a low energy solution to achieve a high level of internal comfort. Steel mesh awnings are calculated to exclude summer sun and allow winter sun to penetrate the interior spaces, subsequently storing its heat within the thermal mass of the floor slab during the cooler months.