Falcon’s Rest 2017

Falcon’s Rest

This house needed to be many things; a meld of our South African, Dutch and Australian cultures; we are planning to grow old in this house so it had to be suitable for possible wheelchair access and care of the elderly. We were keen to support local industry as much as possible and sourced materials from Tasmania.

The house is a passive solar design, with straw bale walls, slate, cork, rock and lots of timber. Large double glazed windows capture the commanding views and the roof allows harvesting of rain water for all our needs. We have solar hot water and a 6kWh solar array supported by a 10kWh lithium ion battery. Cross ventilation provides cooling plus there is a cooling system in the pantry that uses cool ducted air from a moist fernery outside. The greenhouse, with direct access to the kitchen allows for the freshest herbs and vegetables when cooking.

The garden is designed using Permaculture Principles and we produce most of our own vegetables, meat, eggs and in the near future our own fruit.

It is an absolute pleasure living in this home, it is comfortable, always of pleasant temperature, easy to keep clean and when we open the large north facing bi-fold glass doors it feels as if we are living in the garden.

Designed by Green Design Uta and David Green

Built by Nic Vollmer