The Blue House

Boonwurrung Country,
Elwood,
VIC
This home will be open for in-person tours on the 17th May 2026

About this home

A new house built in 2012 located in Elwood, for a couple with two growing children.
The proposed floor area of this house is 200.0m² with a ground floor area of 123.5m², and together with external deck and paving areas limits the overall site coverage to less than 60% of the site allotment area.

The main Living, Dining and Kitchen is located on the ground floor with north/east facing windows and louvre windows which provides cross ventilation for fresh air.

The first floor accommodates 3 bed rooms and bath room with ceiling fans and a raised roof skylight which assists ventilation and cooling in summer. Consideration of cross ventilation has been foremost to allow greater air flow; even the refrigerator is provided with a separate vent to the roof to improve its efficiency.

Judicious use of lighting to minimize energy use with a Solar PV system. All fixed glazing is double glazed with low e film, with a combination of aluminium and timber framed cedar windows.

Rain Water is directed to an inground 23,000 litre tank which provides water for toilet flushing, washing machine and garden irrigation. Heating is provided with a gas hydronic heating system in slab to ground floor and with panels to the upper floor. A gas boosted solar hot water system has been installed with a recirculating pump and 4 star WELS fittings.

The ground floor is fly ash concrete and hardwood timber with recycled press red bricks walls provides thermal mass with plantation timber and laminated timber beams and plywood flooring. R6.0 insulation to roof insulation with minimal roof penetrations.

All walls have R2.5 earth wool with rigid foam waffle under slab. Natural oil wax paints and low VOC paints have been applied to internal finishes with brick walls, hoop pine plywood wall lining and joinery with limited plasterboard linings to the upper level.

In recent years a natural pool was constructed with new native landscaping with indigenous plants from the Bili Nursery.

The gas appliance will be replaced with electric at end of life.

Q & A

What motivated you to build or retrofit sustainably?
long held philosophical concerns for environment and quality architecture
Consideration of site planning and orientation with less technological based solutions. Long life, loose fit!This has made our house extremely comfortable and flexible for growing children, it is a calm, joyful space to live in throughout the year.The house is adaptable as our eldest is now adult age but lives at home as is a common situation for many family homesWe have also developed our garden so the outlook is more private despite being on a corner with apartment units around us.
Not many, I had the benefit of working on several residential projects over the years, mostly alterations so building a new house presented a great opportunityIdeally I wish we had considered the sliding doors more but in 2012 there was less availability of the door track systems now on the marketAlso less dependence on gas heating, especially a combined floor slab and panel hydronic system which is proving challenging finding an economical replacement with heat pumps.
Maybe reconsider the external upper floor cladding using weatherboards which and create a greater 'buffer' around the home. form a maintenance and increased passive solar performance. Whilst the house performs exceptionally well better performing door seals would also have been a plus.
Back to 2026 Homes
Type: Secondary dwelling, Standalone house/townhouse
Project: New build
Architect: David Vernon Architect
Builder: Marcus Hamilton
Size: 200m2m²
Energy Rating: 7.0 NatHers
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2

Sustainability Features

Building Materials & Envelope

High-performance insulation
Double or triple-glazed windows
Sustainable or low-impact materials
Recycled or reused materials

Heating, Cooling and Ventilation

Passive heating/cooling (north-facing glazing, cross ventilation, thermal mass, shading, etc.)
Ceiling fans

Energy and Appliances

Rooftop solar PV
Efficient lighting (LED, daylighting, solar skylights)
Solar thermal hot water
Other energy-efficient appliances

Water & Waste Systems

Water-efficient fixtures
Rainwater tanks

Landscape & Biodiversity

Native garden

Climate Resilience

Flood
Heatwave

Accessible & Flexible Design Features

Design for flexible use
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