Our home for the last 25 years is a modified Merchant Builders Courtyard House. It embodies the concerns of its time – flexibility, connection with landscape and daylight.
Merchant Builders had a radical ambition to create “total living environments” for families in the suburbs. To achieve this – the landscape and interiors received the same care and expert input as the house design.
The original marketing from the company stated that “excellence in design is a combination of careful practical planning and satisfying aesthetic qualities” and that “good design [not only] doesn’t date” but is an “honest response to real needs”.
The needs were privacy, relaxation, comfort, peacefulness, harmony, sunshine and connection with the natural environment.
While our compact home was exceptional in its design – its thermal performance and durability were not!
We took a holistic approach to sympathetic restoration and retrofitting for energy efficiency.
Updating a house to modern standards involves insulation, air sealing, better windows and shading, and efficient heating, cooling, and hot water systems.
Key advice
• Set clear goals and ensure all decisions support them.
• Seek expert input.
• Specify materials and methods accurately, focusing on air sealing and insulation.
• Verify installations with thermal imaging and blower door tests.
• Plan for an all-electric home, preparing for future upgrades.
• Plan for climate change, accessibility, and electric vehicles.
• Manage moisture.
• Choose practical, timeless design over trends, especially in kitchens.
• Monitor consumption to adjust behaviour.
Our retrofit achieved 10 stars on the Residential Energy Efficiency Scorecard and greatly improved thermal and acoustic comfort.
The original designers’ aims and strategies to create a calm, light, peaceful, private and practical “total living environment” are as relevant to today’s families as 50 years ago.
Jill Haapaniemi Sanctuary Magazine
