SECRET GARDEN HOME

Winner: SA State Award

Designer: SUHO Studio

Assessor: Jim Woolcock, SUHO

Project cost estimate: $700,000

House size: 225 sqm

Energy rating: 9.4 stars

Secret Garden House is designed using rammed earth walls and rammed earth floors and can accommodate multiple stages of life both for the family unit and individual occupants. The study and private nook are both considered flexible spaces that can be adapted to the occupants needs over time. Additional space has been provided in key areas including bathrooms, kitchen and main bedroom, to support the spatial needs of assisted living.

Indoor and outdoor spaces have been arranged around the kitchen/living area as the heart of the home while the bedrooms and utilities are flexible spaces and form distinct zones throughout to create private spaces. Secret Garden House has multiple outdoor spaces/ nooks around the building footprint and connections to the garden are made by generous openings and glass-ended walkways.

The health and wellbeing of the residents are at the forefront of the design. Aside from maintaining good indoor air quality and managing moisture in the building envelope, the design leverages acoustic privacy, thermal comfort, daylighting and biophilic principles to offer an holistic solution.

Various aspects of the home have also been underpinned by the Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) design standards including wider doorways and circulation, additional space in the main bedroom, bathrooms, and with the selection of kitchen joinery. The home, as a whole, has all of the principles, technologies and outcomes forward-thinking home buyers would be interested in, including a food forest for carbon offset.

Buyers, and the public in general, are becoming more educated on the impacts their homes have on not just the environment but their own health and wellbeing. People are far more informed than they were 1 - 2 years ago as there has been a rising conversation happening in the mainstream. With this in mind, if costs can be controlled and the benefits communicated well then consumer demand should continue to strengthen over the long term.