house profile Perth hills house profile Perth hills

First
Time
Lucky
When it came to building their first environmental
house, what this Perth couple lacked in dollars and
experience they made up for in commitment.

Words Gina Morris Photography Tim Silbert

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house profile Perth hills
Jutting out dramatically on a suburban
street of 1960s fibro and brick worker cottages in the Perth
Hills is Simon and Amy’s striking, angular and partially
self-built eco home. So blatantly green and healthy, one of
the neighbours calls it “The Mung Bean House”, and since
the very first day of construction, when its four monolithic
rammed recycled concrete walls stuck out of the ground like
Stonehenge, it has captivated the community.
The project was a creative and passionate feat, not just
for the owners, who sought to prove you could build a solar
passive house on a modest budget, but for the builders
and the designers, Paradigm Architects. As co-owner Amy
explains: “We touted our concept around and had a lot
of doors shut on us, but Paradigm were interested in the
challenge and were very enterprising in their ideas”.
Paradigm’s director Fiona Hogg and project architect
Chantelle Beckett devised an “honest” house, utilising
largely recycled components and salvaged demolition
materials. Taking eighteen months and costing $275,000
for the 160 square-metre, two-bedroom single storey, its
site specific design relied on detailed analysis and localised
climate mapping to ensure maximum passive thermal
performance and natural ventilation.
“Our brief was to design the bones of a solar passive
house that could be technologically improved as and when
technology advanced and the clients could afford it,” says
Chantelle. “It was always intended to be a collaborative
process. It’s true to our design but so much of them went
into it. They were unbelievably committed. They have such
an intimate understanding of what this house can actually
achieve; they treat it like a living thing, which is how it
should be.”
As first time homeowners who had never even
renovated before, overseeing and physically contributing
to the construction of an entirely new building was a brave
venture. Although there were times they worried it may have
been a “crazy idea”, the end result is an emphatic success.
Viewed from the front, the painstakingly restored jarrah
windows, positioned like picture frames, add an eclectic
element and respond to the rhythm of the neighbouring
properties. A more modern and theatrical aesthetic is
revealed on the north-facing rear. The sharply angled
roof is designed to catch or exclude the sun according to
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house profile Perth hills
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The home’s southern aspect
wraps around bedrooms and
a guest lounge (living spaces
are to the north) and presents
an unassuming face to the
street.
season and to drain all of the rain water into a 10,000 litre
tank, plumbed to all taps but one to provide 80 per cent
of household usage. A locally made three-stage plumbing
system, which treats all the household waste water,
including the toilet, is used for irrigation, covering 150
square metres of vegetation. The end result: last year Simon
and Amy’s water bill totalled $28.
High-efficiency lighting and appliances, and a 250 litre
Apricus evacuated tube solar hot water system also ensures
the whole house runs on just 6kWh of electricity per day.
Inside the house, the rammed recycled concrete walls
are the main attraction, acting both as thermal mass and
as stunning features. These form the intimate core of the
house. Tactile, stylish, earthy and practical, they glow in the
winter sun, soaking up the heat like enormous radiators. In “The owners have such an intimate understanding
summer they’re shaded, absorbing the warmth instead.
The couple admit they spent an “inordinate amount of
of what this house can actually achieve; they treat it
time” researching every single product that went into the like a living thing, which is how it should be.”
house, from the flooring to the paint on the walls. For their
single active heating system they chose a slow-combustion
wood heater, fitted with a heat exchange system to transfer
warm air from the lounge into the bedrooms when needed.
Although Amy studied sustainable development at
university and hails from “hippy parents” who self-built
three houses, the desire for a low cost, environmentally
focused, solar passive home didn’t stem from a notion to be
ultra green. “Simon and I are both very practical people and
we are both trained economists,” she explains. “I work in
treasury and I’m very conscious of utility price rises and the
scarcity of resources, so it was very obvious to me to invest
in a house that used as little energy and water as possible.”
With Simon focusing on the build and scheduling
and Amy taking on the budget and aesthetics, they found
harmony amid the stress. Now, living in their dream home,
L
Amy says “we do feel pretty proud of ourselves”. The rammed recycled
For project architect Chantelle, the success of the house concrete aggregate wall
flanks the passageway to
owes much to the great attitude of the owners, and to its the study. Rammed earth
honesty. As she surmises: “There are houses which are and concrete aggregate walls
are generally made in situ and
specifically designed to express their sustainability and they are infinitely customisable,
with colour and texture able
can come across as over the top, but this house doesn’t. It is
to be controlled during the
what it is and it’s just so simple and so beautiful. I just wish it ramming process and features
such as niches, stencilling and
was mine!” embedded stones able to be
added.
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 house profile Perth hills

“I’m very conscious of utility price rises and the

scarcity of resources, so it was very obvious to me to
invest in a house that used as little energy and water
as possible.”

Section

GROUND Floor Plan

01 Deck
02 Rainwater Tank
01
03 Bathroom
04 Living Room
05 Dining Room 02
06 Laundry
07 Kitchen
08 Entry
09 Study 04 05
10 Bedroom 1
03
11 Bedroom 2
12 Guest Lounge

07 08
06

09

10 11 12

L
The rammed recycled
concrete wall in the kitchen is
illuminated by a brilliant band
of early autumn light via
high-level clerestory windows.
The floor is finished in
Australian hoop pine ply.

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Perth Hills Residence

Designer Sustainable Features
Paradigm Architects
— Hot water
Website 250L 22-tube Apricus evacuated tube solar hot water
www.paradigmarchitects.com.au with Bosch instantaneous booster (LPG).
— www.apricus.com.au
Builder
Owner-builder Renewable energy
— Roof designed to take future PVs
Project type
New building Water saving
— – 10,000L rainwater tank – plumbed to all taps except
Project location one. Mains back up. Tank provides up to 80% of
Perth Hills, WA household use: current mains water use is 7% of local
— average
Cost – Western Australia manufactured Aquarius O-3
$275,000 ATU anaerobic waste water recycling system
— (www.westernwastewater.com.au). Treated water
Size discharged to garden by subsurface irrigation.
160sqm Supplement irrigation by bore if needed
– All overflow stormwater contained onsite and
distributed to soak wells
– Water saving taps – Novelli lever mixer taps with
aerators, 7.5L/min shower head
– Caroma Smartflush toilet
– Plumbing by Enviroplumb WA
Passive heating & cooling
– Orientated and zoned for maximum northern
exposure and capturing of prevailing breezes
– Rammed recycled concrete aggregate walls that run
down the east-west spine of the building, helping to
direct traffic as well as cooling breezes. Central
clerestory windows allow solar capture in the spine
wall in winter
– Concrete slab floor for additional thermal mass
– Overhang and eaves combined with floor-to-ceiling
windows and clerestory windows to north control
solar access
– Insulation: glass fibre for ceiling batts, R2 external
and internal walls with Pink SonoBatts in places for
noise insulation. Under-floor: R2 polyester (chosen
for its moisture resistance)
Active heating & cooling
– Clean Air HD series slow-combustion wood heater
using waste timber
www.cleanairwoodheaters.com.au
– Warm air from living room is ducted to bedrooms via
operable ceiling vents
– Low ceilings allow active heating to work more
effectively
– Mercator ceiling fans
Building materials
– Rammed recycled concrete aggregate walls by Perth
Stabilised Earth (ph 08 9335 5440)
– Concrete slab
– BlueScope Custom Orb: Colorbond and Zincalume
– Internal floors finished in Australian hoop pine ply
Windows & glazing
– Benchmark series glazed doors and windows by
Jason Windows (www.jaswin.com.au): powder
coated, single glazed with grey tint
– Rear windows aluminium framed; street-facing
bedroom windows framed with recycled jarrah
– Window treatments: Luxaflex Duette Architella
Shades. Thermally insulating blinds with honeycomb
construction. Fixed to ceiling to give similar
performance to pelmet
Lighting
Compact fluorescents, T4/T5 ring fluoros, CFL and
LED down lights
Paints, finishes & floor coverings
– Polished concrete and plywood floors
– Wattyl id range low-VOC paints
– Volvox clay paint to living room (not used
throughout as difficult finding paint trades who
were happy to use!)
Garden & Waste Minimisation
– Garden will be natives to front and verge, grass to
rear for sub-irrigation and dog, vegetable garden to
rear
– Recycled sleepers to pathway, recycled brick paving
– All topsoil re-established on site and rocks dug out
for footings used in landscaping and retaining
– Recycled sand used in site works
– All scrap steel, aluminium, cardboard and plastics
recycled

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