FEATURE PROJECT FOR JUNE - Homestead in Southern Brook

This month's feature project is a self sufficient homestead on a large rural block close to Northam. Greg and Jo are long term Northam residents who are planning the move to their rural block and are already in the process of  restoring some denuded land areas by planting sandalwood trees. They enjoy the rural vernacular of lightweight sheds and their only prerequisite was to try orientate the view towards the dry creek bed and bush in the distance, and to create a home that would be energy efficient and largely self sufficient.

Our early sketches show the original concept of a large shed-like structure with a "Great Verandah" to the north, but unlike traditional verandahs this one slopes upward to allow winter sunshine to penetrate the living areas. This results in a 'butterfly' roof where water is collected down the center and captured in holding rainwater tanks before being stored nearby in 200 000 litre tanks.

The final design remainded fairly close to this original concept , with a central courtyard being the covered pool area which links to the generous outdoor room.

The covered pool area will also help with evaporatively cooling the entertaining areas, and minimise associated wind-borne dust problems. The house will be built with a lightweight steel structure with super-insulation and will also have a 5 KW photovoltaic array on the roof to add to it's self-sufficiency criteria. Greg has already built the limestone podium on which the house will sit. and we look foward to watching the steel 'skeleton' rising from the plain like some prehistoric beast!