Sustainable House Day 2025

We are pleased to be participating in Sustainable House Day 2025, and will open our Studio HQ for the public to tour as part of this event.

Our Approach

Our Studio is part of residential retrofit, which includes a small addition to the south of an existing house. The design retains the existing house, to limit any loss of embodied energy, which is important when we consider our role in decarbonisation. The approach of attention and extension also promotes building smaller, or building less. This saves on precious resources and refocuses on improving a structures energy performance, on lowering an occupants energy consumption and renewing an existing building type so it may be suitable for our climate challenges and contemporary lifestyles.

Sustainable Design

We promote architectural design as a tool for considering sustainability. It is our design thinking, coupled with mechanical and passive systems that work together to improve user comfort, environmental performance and hopefully delight as well. The design of this project has highly considered window placement, so the new rooms receive natural sunlight throughout the day. Large windows connect to the street, the park and the community as well as bringing northern light deep into the southern side of the house. The tower form maximises garden space and the stair allows for extra storage, which is important for smaller houses.

Biophilia

Biophilia, a ‘love of life’ has been utilised in key places. A green eave to the north-eastern windows sees a grow frame hug the built form, upon which Hardenbergia is rapidly growing.  This plant will provide perennial shade to the lower studio windows, along with delightful outlook, especially when in flower. A planter bed sits below the main bedroom window, which previously had no outlook. Tall flowers are planted here, in the romantic hope that when using the window seat you might feel as if amongst a meadow. A small green roof about the office entry cascades silver falls upon arrival, which is only intended to delight.

Further information and a video tour of the house can be found on the event page, run by Renew and Sustainable House Day: 

sustainablehouseday.com/listing/sonder-tower-1 

This project was modelled and awarded as part of the Canberra Low Carbon Challenge in 2022.

Credits to Matthew Sherren for the photographic and video work.