Seascape Designs

Seascape Designs

SEAGULL Design Geraldton

The Seagull design home is located at 6 Outrigger Esplanade Sunset Beach, Geraldton WA. This home was built by Seascape Designs in 2014. The house has a very unique roof design with a series of curved roof lines to simulate the surrounding sand dunes, which are directly across the road. The aim of this build was to promote and encourage passive solar design and sustainable building practices in the Geraldton area.

The Seagull design won 3 MBA excellence building awards in 2015. Energy Efficient home 2015, Recycling practices award & the Judges innovative design award.

Excellent site orientation and passive solar design featured extensively in this home the long sides of the house face north and south to maximise the winter northern sun to heat the house and the cooling summer sea breezes to help cool the house in summer. The east & west walls have minimal windows to help minimise summer heat entering the home.

The north side of the house has high light louver windows that help the winter sun penetrate into the house and to hit the central thermal mass brick wall to heat up during the day and release heat into the house at night. The northern highlight windows are excellent in releasing hot air in the central living area on hot days in the evening. Floor to ceiling windows on the north side of house in dining and entry are designed to let winter sun into the house. As our signature feature we use natural stone tiles as a border around the living areas with natural timber flooring in the middle. The winter sun hits the tile border during the day and again spreads its heat throughout the room at night, reducing the need to use any heating at all except natural heating. All the living areas are on the north side of the house and all the bedrooms etc are on the south side of the home. The alfresco area is also on the north side of the house which creates a protected area in summer from the strong southerly winds and in winter offers plenty of warm sun.

Thoughtful consideration was given to the position of all windows throughout this home in order to maximise natural cross flow ventilation, coupled with ceiling fans in all rooms thus reducing the need for energy consuming heating and cooling.

Sustainably sourced plantation timber frames and low energy embodied materials were used throughout this project.

R6 insulation in the ceiling and R5 insulation in the walls was used to maximise the thermal performance.

Adhering to our waste management practices only one skip bin was used over the entire 8 month build. With only one wheel barrow of timber waste many recycled materials were incorporated into the home.

On the North & West Side of the house deciduous trees were planted to provide shade from the summer sun also allowing plenty of natural warmth into the home in the winter.

Grey water units were hooked up to bathroom, ensuite and laundry providing recycled water to support the gardens, minimising water use and expense. 5000 litres of water tanks are connected to the roof for recycling water back into the house for all toilets and washing machine as well as fresh clean drinking water. Additional tanks were installed on the west side to support watering of gardens in the hot summer months reducing the need to spend unnecessary money on mains water. Hot water is supplied by a 270 litre heat pump as an energy efficient option for hot water storage.

An additional unique feature of this home is the internal garden, providing healthy clean air within the home. Low VOC paints and materials were used throughout this project supporting healthier living for the home occupants.

LED lighting, high rated energy use appliances and water wise fittings were used in this home. Natural stone & recycled PVC decking were used on project.

The success of this home is in the regular temperature readings maintaining a steady 18-24c in the winter and 20-25c in the summer feeling comfortable without constantly reaching for the remote control to adjust the temperature. On the hottest day recorded in 2017 it was 42C outside at 1pm, the inside temperature was a comfortable 27C.

A passive solar home will consistently outperform every time.

You will never know how good a GREEN home is to live in, until you have lived in one.

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