The 10 Star Home

With the minimum compliance for Australian homes at 6 stars, the brief was to design a home that goes beyond 10 stars in order to demonstrate what is possible when contemporary construction materials and techniques are combined with thoughtful design. We wanted to provide a tangible experience for the public, so that they may come to appreciate the substantial benefits beyond a star rating of a truly energy-efficient home. Collaboration with industry professionals has demonstrated that the increase in dialogue around the pioneering construction methodology assists in empowering homeowners to reconsider their priorities of form and function with performance.

It is a first for Australia to have an internationally aligned smart 10/10 star home exceeding performance expectations and providing the most healthy indoor environment to date. Supported by social theory, advanced technology and immersive education, the design principles of the 10 Star Home primarily explore climate, orientation, sun and shade, thermal mass, airtightness and ventilation. The home is designed to use 3MJ/m2 annually for heating and cooling at a comfort level of 22 degrees. Ultimately an evolutionary process, expertise was folded in at every opportunity with stakeholders gaining an integrated understanding of the project along the way.

The 10 Star Home’s design used an internationally aligned solution to support passive design principles to their greatest possible effect. Our partnerships with the industry have given us an opportunity to push for a more climate and future-ready housing market. The home intentionally focuses on the minimisation of wasteful and toxic construction materials and the impact CO2 emissions have in the construction process. The reiterative feedback of data is being provided to governing bodies, associations, industry and community, allowing benchmarks to be raised and therefore the collective emissions to be lowered.

The 10 Star Home is a project that includes both healthy materials but also smart automation. It is capable of thinking for itself through monitoring and inclusions from our partners. It senses temperature changes, operates ventilation, shading and energy independently; and by adapting its envelope, it keeps the home between 18-22 degrees. The home does not require any heating and cooling systems and is completely dust-free, which often is hard to fathom by those that visit. An HRV system is used to allow fresh air and movement in this Passivhaus-level airtight building (0.63ACH@50Pa). The home provides an unbiased feedback loop of ‘actual’ data that has positioned itself to become the Health and Quality flagship for change in Australia. This is because the home facilitates quantifiable data that is able to be incorporated into further CSIRO regulatory modelling and platforms. The importance of which, unlike common benchmarking of high-performance homes, is an annual cyclical analysis. This home can focus on the nuances of ‘life’ for naturally occurring events such as heatwaves, peak energy times and feedback to the grid. It also allows for the operation of appliances and an overall reduction in carbon emissions through intelligent design.