Holocene House

•Client’s vision for a highly sustainable and regenerative home •Five metres fall from the back to the front of the site •Site sandwiched between a protected front verge as a council-owned asset which included the driveway and landscaping including rock shelving, and a protected rear strip owned by the Catholic Archdiocese Church of Sydney with challenging constraints for approvals and development. •Client’s ambition to create a carbon-positive house to generate more energy by 2050 than was used to create and operate it. •Bushfire-prone area •Designing in a Biodiversity zone to protect the endangered bandicoot

•A natural pool to be the heart of the house, with living spaces built around it. •Water cascades from natural landforms at the rear, running like a rainforest creek between living spaces and outdoor deck. A canopy of flourishing plants stretches overhead. •Sustainably sourced and recycled timber were used extensively. Shou Sugi Ban cladding and the vulcanised timber Abodo used for ceiling linings. Maintenance free, paint free Barestone panels used for internal wall linings. Kiln-dried Australian hardwoods used in joinery, stair, external ceiling, and expressed structural timber. Doors, windows, benchtops and flooring use recycled timber sourced from locally demolished homes.

•First ActiveHouse Certified house in Australia •The home acts as a reservoir, creating its own climate-resilient water system that does not require mains supply. The pool captures rainfall and water from the irrigation system mounted in the canopy above it. Rainwater and grey water from the home’s washing machine and showers are used for irrigation. Rainwater stored in a 15-kilolitre underground tank provides water for daily needs (showers, washing machines and toilets). In drought season, residents and their garden can live off their own water for months. The reservoir’s healthy water and native plants nurture coastal ecology and the bandicoots.

•Fully automated control lights, locks, louvres, blinds, batteries, thermal comfort, security, irrigation, solar array, and cleaning of the floors and pool. •Chicken coop and run for productive chickens, keeping in alignment with materiality of home and bushfire compliant design e.g. brass ember mesh screening. •Garden shed for storage of equipment, integrating encased concrete pipe for bandicoot access/thoroughfare along boundary. •safe removal, storage, protection and replanting of a mature frangipani in the front garden •discreet placement and integration of stormwater pits with landscaping and accessible paving/decking to minimise visibility but maximise drainage pickup and discharge in heavy rain events. •Front and rear polishing ponds, rills and waterfalls carved into existing surface sandstone to contribute to the waterway system for natural pool aeration and bio-filtration.