house profile neerim east house profile neerim east

Spartan
style
In the coldest reaches of Gippsland a modest new
home makes the most of its stunning surrounds by
using colour, light and simple design principles.
Words Fiona Negrin
Photography Rhiannon Slatter

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Locals in this part of Gippsland say that the
rain falls for 51 weeks of the year, and drips off the trees for
the remaining week. That’s enough to deter some, but for
others, cool green Gippsland is their very idea of paradise.
It was in Neerim East, in the Victorian pastoral
heartland, that a Melbourne couple found the perfect block
for their home. However it would be 12 years before Michael
and Robina built a permanent dwelling on the site; in the
meantime they weekended in an unpowered shack in a
forest clearing on the block.
Ryan Strating of Tasmania-based Core Collective was
hired to design the house, a happy coincidence as he’d
grown up nearby. Michael and Robina’s brief to Ryan was
for a modern house with a theme of “durable rudiment”.
To Michael, this implied a “simple, spartan place, yet still
modern: spaceship stuff, not haybale”. Ryan puts it another
way, “The design had to be elegant and adaptable, and the
materials had to be simple and low maintenance”.
To that end, the form of the building is a simple,
extended rectangle that mimics the look of a rural shelter,
built with materials that will endure with little or no
maintenance. These include metal cladding and unfinished
concrete blockwork in the meeting room and living area,
solid timber joinery in the kitchen and bathroom, and high
levels of thermal mass throughout.
Ryan adds that the house is in a fire-prone area, and the
materials extend the house’s durability “not just to normal
wear and tear but to extreme events”.
Due to the site’s remoteness, all power, water and
waste needed to be taken care of onsite. Water is collected
in three 27,000 litre tanks; treated waste is dispersed via a
system of trenches and reintegrated into the soil. A 1.5kW
solar panel array and an inverter provide power and there’s
a diesel generator for backup during winter if necessary. A
wood stove offers a boost to the solar hot water during long
overcast periods.
While there is electricity to meet daily needs, it can’t
compete with a grid-connected building. This didn’t deter
the occupants. “We don’t need hair straighteners, sandwich
makers or clothes driers,” says Robina, “and we know how
to use candles!” Ryan adds, “The house requires a certain
degree of mindfulness and careful consideration to live
with, and the result is worth so much more: living an elegant
and simple life in a beautiful place.”
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house profile neerim east
The house is surrounded by scrubby ash, messmate
and wattle bush, which brings a high fire risk. The house’s
location in a clearing on the ridgeline was chosen in
part to provide fire protection, and further “passive”
fire protection is built into the property. Fire-resistant
materials like toughened double glazing, double masonry
and metal cladding were used throughout the house. An
existing pump from a spring-fed dam in the bush provides
water to a dedicated fire-fighting water tank on site, a CFA
requirement. [Ed note: A good source of information for
fire-ready new building standards is available at www.
buildingcommission.com.au.]
Michael and Robina envisaged the house as a dual-use
building: both a family home (for them and their teenage
daughter) and a conference facility for city workers. A D
The meeting room in the
spacious meeting room was designed as a space where house has a large, fully
“eight to fifteen people could kick ideas around in view of openable door. The door
acts as both wall and door
the landscape, eat lunch, have recreational walks around and allows the meeting room
the bush paths and get back to the south-east suburbs of to be fully openable to the
views. It cost around $3,000
Melbourne by 5pm,” says Michael. fully installed.
The meeting room has an unrendered south wall in
line with the theme of “durable rudiment”, with a row of
tall, north-facing double-glazed windows looking out onto
spectacular views of Mt Toorongo and the Baw Baw plateau.
Meanwhile the east-facing wall opens as a massive door
onto an outdoor terrace.
Ryan explains that the idea behind the large door from
the meeting room to the outside terrace “was to encourage
groups to spill out onto the terrace. We wanted to create
maximum openness between the two spaces, so we made
the wall into a door. It’s insulated like a wall, but hinged like
a door. The view is wonderful in that direction.”
Two modest bedrooms, a cosy living area, a bathroom
and an elegant kitchen complete the house. The solid timber
kitchen was built by Ryan’s brother, and incorporates
recycled light fittings from Michael’s grandfather’s house.
The bathroom is a self-contained room between the living
area and the meeting room, which allows light to flood in
through the north-facing windows. Doors and windows
were sited to permit the through-flow of cool breezes in
summer, and to bunker up and hold the heat during winter.
“It’s 17 to 22 degrees all the time,” says Robina. “There’s
no need for a fire on cold nights.” For one of the coldest,
wettest parts of Victoria, that’s an impressive achievement.
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D D
The house is tiled with a
Forbo marmoleum flooring
in Emerald ($76.40 per sqm).
Forbo marmoleum is low
maintenance, GECA certified,
emits very low to low VOCs
(depending on the adhesives
you use) and is made from
natural materials. There are no
heavy metals in the pigments.
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house profile neerim east
The house is completely
off-grid with 81,000 litres of
water storage and a 1.5kW
solar panel array with diesel
backup.
“We don’t need hair straighteners,
sandwich makers or clothes driers,
and we know how to use candles!”
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house profile neerim east house profile neerim east

D
The southern facade. The
house has a bushfire sprinkler
system plumbed to a 27,000
litre tank with spring-fed dam
backup.

GROUND Floor Plan

01 Machinery Shed
02 Bedroom 1
03 Bedroom 2
04 Kitchen
05 Living Room
06 Bathroom
07 Dining/Meeting Room
08 Terrace

02

04
05 07
08
06
L
This house uses two different 03
types of block construction,
both providing internal 01
insulated thermal mass.
The southern wall, shown
in this image, has an exterior
insulated stud wall clad in
Colorbond.

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Neerim East Residence

Designer Sustainable Features Sustainable PRODUCTS
Ryan Strating
— Hot water
Website Apricus evacuated tube solar hot water Nectre Heaters Bakers Oven

www.corecollective.com.au www.apricus.com.au
— This wood stove offers a boost to the solar hot water
Builder Renewable energy during overcast days. It has a custom built heat
Ray Childs of Childs Hodson – 1.5kW off-grid solar power system by Sustainable exchanger mounted behind the oven which allows high
— Impact (ph 03 5633 2778) including solar panels, pressure heating of water (made and installed by Baw
Project type frames, batteries and inverter (approx $16,000 after Baw Plumbing). An overflow tank is installed in the
rebates) roof. Oven, including “wetback” heat exchanger:
New building
– Diesel backup generator by Diesel Machinery $2500. www.nectre.com
—
Project location ($4500) www.dieselmachinery.com.au This type of oven has obvious benefits in that you can
Neerim East, VIC cook on the stove top and bake while heating the house
— Water saving and boosting the solar water heating at the same time.
Cost – Three poly tanks with total capacity of 81,000L If you’re considering a wood heater for its own sake
by Eco Waterwise www.ecowaterwise.com.au however, bear in mind that they are a cause of air
$450,000, including
– Bushfire sprinklers and toilet water supplied from pollution. While manufacturers test wood heaters to
professional fees
spring-fed dam Australian standards, most homeowners will load their
—
heater with wood and turn the air flow down to get a
Size
Insulation slow burn/smoulder, which provides low-level heat for
Land 33.58 Ha; House 131sqm;
– R2 polyester insulation in walls and R1 Aircell a long period but airs particulates.
Terraces 74sqm
Glareshield wall sarking. Sarking is a reflective foil This Australian Government fact sheet provides an
barrier often applied to walls and roofs to provide overview and advice on minimising smoke from wood
a moisture barrier heaters: www.environment.gov.au/atmosphere/
– All internal stud walls insulated with SoundScreen airquality/publications/woodsmoke.html.
mineral fibre insulation When sourcing wood for a wood fire, ensure the
– Roof sarking R2.5 blanket plus R3.3 polyester batts timber is sustainably sourced. In rural conditions,
above ceiling ensure you leave enough timber on your property for
animal habitat.
Lighting
Fluoro and compact fluoro lighting by Beacon Lighting
www.beaconlighting.com.au

Windows & glazing

– Viridian 6mm toughened double glazed windows for
bushfire resistance www.viridianglass.com
– Kiln dried Victorian ash timber frames and reclaimed
karri windowsills by Mouldright Joinery
www.mouldright.com.au

Paints, finishes & floor coverings

– Dulux low-VOC paints
– InterfaceFLOR modular carpet tiles ($73 per sqm)
www.interfaceflor.com.au
– Forbo marmoleum flooring in Emerald
($76.40 per sqm) www.forbo-flooring.com.au

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