Warm – mild temperate

Case studies in this section are specific to Australian Climate Zones 5, 6.

Cape Paterson, Victoria

A photo of a new house in Cape Paterson showing a row of solar panels designed to shade the interior from high summer sun.

Photo: Warren Reed, © Beaumont Building Design

A 9.1 NatHERS star home that balances energy efficiency and material selection to achieve affordability and sustainability. This build features passive design, recycled/renewable material use and embodied energy reduction.

Clayton, Victoria

The view of this house as seen from the street. The front yard feature a number of garden beds which sit adjacent to the drive way.

Photo: Josephine Eady

A knockdown-rebuild permitted the occupants to build a new home using the Design For Place Banksia home plan. The design was adjusted to include 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an outdoor living area.

Fitzroy North, Victoria

A dining room of a house with rubber tile flooring, exposed brick walls and a large bifold door opening onto a garden area.

Photo: Nic Granleese

A renovation to a inner urban brick terrace has creatively maximised limited space, opening it to light and passive solar energy while incorporating the home’s history and heritage.

Inverloch, Victoria

Image of east and north facing exterior of Harmony House. The home uses the free 'Banksia' Design For Place plan.

Photo: Harmony House

A new build using the Design For Place Banksia home plan. With some clever additions the owners achieved an off-grid home, on-site rain water collection and household waste management.

Northcote, Victoria

The street view of a Melbourne home features a native garden and small picket fence. The asymmetrical gable form roof is taller on the northern side.

Photo: © Tatjana Plitt Photography

A family home built on existing foundations and using passive solar principles, local materials and high-density insulation.

Birkenhead, South Australia

 

A ground level north facing deck adjacent to the living room sliding doors.

Photo: Mark Clayton, Sustainability House

The owners of this home were determined to prove that anyone could achieve good passive design outcomes by planning well. This build features reverse brick veneer, structural insulated panels and monitoring systems that track internal temperature, energy consumption and solar PV production.

Glanville, South Australia

This Adelaide home looks like a black A-framed house from the street. The roof of the carport has solar panels which are east-facing.

Photo: © Finn Howard Photography

This home demonstrates passive solar design using a combination of heavy and lightweight materials. It overcomes the constraints of a narrow block where the longest side faces west.

Parkside, South Australia

A heritage-style façade of the original house has been used as a wall for a courtyard. There is a Trombe wall on the right.

Photo: AndyRasheed/eyefood

The new emerges from the old in this home. Sustainable design creates a bright, thermally efficient and environmentally in-tune home that incorporates the property’s heritage past.

Woodforde, South Australia

A photo of the street view of the Woodforde case study home

Photo: Dan Schultz © SUHO

An all-electric home on a narrow block uses solar passive design features to achieve an impressively air-tight home with a NatHERS energy star rating at the top of the scale. 

Perth, Western Australia

Two townhouses and two apartments have extensive energy saving features, including solar panels and solar hot water systems. The garden between the homes includes lawn as well as raised garden beds.

Photo: Sebastian Mrugalski

The Green Swing small-scale development features small building footprints for its two townhouses and two apartments and large communal outdoor spaces.

White Gum Valley, Western Australia

A pair of modern apartments with a productive front garden.

Photo: © Monique Manolini, Crib Creative

This multi-unit development showcases two new apartments that employ passive solar design principles, solar and water technologies and smart home systems.

Freshwater, Sydney, New South Wales

Exterior view of house in Freshwater, Sydney

Photo: Blue Tribe Co.

This high performance house makes use of a small and difficult site in an established bayside suburb.

Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales

A community housing project that transformed a former Sydney depot into an urban renewal apartment complex.

Photo: Eden Connell © Zoom In With Eden Photography.

A community housing project that transformed a former Sydney depot into an urban renewal apartment complex.

Sydney, New South Wales

A photo of a row of two-storey townhouses with a large tree in the foreground. The house has a sloped driveway adjoined by a wide sandstone staircase and a sandstone retaining wall.

Photo: Simon Wood Photography

These townhouses maintain the local architectural aesthetic while achieving an environmentally sustainable design.

Yellow Rock, New South Wales 

A bushfire resistant, multigenerational passive house in the Blue Mountains.

Photo: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

A bushfire resistant, multigenerational passive house in the Blue Mountains.

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