Green scene

High-tech ventilation with the Fanco Habitat Expert

As we build more low-energy homes that are tightly sealed, we need to consider how to provide adequate ventilation in order to ensure our homes are healthy and energy efficient. Opening windows can provide ventilation, but the energy that has been spent cooling or heating the internal air is lost. The Fanco Habitat Expert is a decentralized heat recovery system that provides a constant source of fresh air to a home, maintaining indoor air quality while also retaining its existing heat. The unit operates in cycles: First, it extracts air from within the home through the wall for 70 seconds. Then it switches to an intake mode, drawing external air into the unit. On each extraction cycle, the unit retains heat from the outgoing air stream. When it switches to an intake cycle, that heat is transferred to the incoming air. This heat transfer reduces the home’s overall energy consumption. The Habitat Expert also has a ventilation mode that provides fresh and filtered outdoor air, bypassing the heat exchanger. This can be used to provide a cool breeze in summer time.

The Habitat Expert provides multiple benefits: – One of the models comes with wi-fi and is compatible with

SMART Technology, which allows homeowners to control the unit via smart phone and connect to additional units, including enabling multiple units to work in sync. – The model with wi-fi connection does not need to be wired to a central point or to another unit, making it much easier to install than models that do. This is a unique feature in the

Australian market. – The system features a high-quality ceramic accumulator, which retains up to 93 percent of heat energy. – A humidity sensor ensures adequate ventilation, preventing mould and mildew. – The system has an antibacterial treatment that prevents bacteria generation inside the regenerator.

The Habitat Expert is one of the most sophisticated and energy-efficient solutions to living well and sustainably. The system provides constant mechanical ventilation while maintaining the room temperature using minimal electricity. The Habitat Expert includes a G3 filter and can be fitted with an F8 filter (PM2.5 99%) as an accessory. This filter can help to remove finer particles from the air, including smoke, car exhaust fumes and pollen fragments (Environment Protection Authority [EPA] Victoria, 2021). These pollutants and allergens can lead to respiratory symptoms, particularly for those living with allergies, hay fever and asthma (EPA Victoria, 2018). Prioritizing energy efficiency and healthy indoor air quality, this ventilation system provides a constant source of fresh, filtered air while also using a heat transfer to reduce a home’s energy consumption.

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01 Hawk’s Nest Residence by Contech, with the Fanco InfinityID Ceiling Fan. Photograph: David Sievers.

02 The Fanco Habitat Expert heat recovery system.

National Distributor of:

For more information, visit fanco.com.au/fancohabitat-expert-wifi or universalfans.com.au

Words by Josh Harris

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01 Beaumaris Modern 2 by Fiona Austin and Simon Reeves (Melbourne Books, 2022) Melbourne’s bayside suburb of Beaumaris has changed a lot since the 1950s and ’60s, when dirt roads and sandy tracks weaved between untouched bush and the avant-garde homes of the architects and artists who flocked there in search of an alternative to the usual subdivision. Today, as land values have skyrocketed, many of the experimental, modernist homes that were built in the mid-twentieth century have been demolished, replaced by generic new builds. This follow- up to 2018’s Beaumaris Modern continues the work of documenting the homes that have survived the waves of development, acting as a pointed reminder of what first attracted people to the suburb. The new book brings 17 additional surviving houses “out from behind the trees,” including lovingly preserved homes by the likes of Peter McIntyre, Anatol Kagan and Geoffrey Woodfall as well as hidden gems by lesser-known architects such as Charles Bricknell and Judith Brine. A few of these homes have been in the same family for generations, but most others have been bought by new owners who appreciated their modernist design and relationship to the surrounding bush. We hope, as do the book’s authors, that Beaumaris Modern 2 inspires the suburb’s next generation to hang on to that modernist heritage. 02 Arent & Pyke: Interiors Beyond the Primary Palette by Juliette Arent and Sarah-Jane Pyke (Thames and Hudson Australia, 2022) Juliette Arent and Sarah-Jane Pyke of Sydney interiors practice Arent and Pyke don’t do monochrome. Colour is integral to this, their first monograph, just as it is to their work – from the variegated greens that connect a house to its garden to the soft pink that gives a room a rosy glow. The book concentrates on the practice’s residential work, and it celebrates the ways that colour can create visceral joy. “For us, to talk about colour is to talk about memory, but also meaning, energy and emotion,” explain the authors. Each house is introduced with the expected data – floor area, number of bedrooms – as well as the number of colours used. There are 11 colours in the first project, an opulent home by the sea in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where cream-and-grey marble sits alongside rich crimson fabrics. In the next – a renovated Federationera worker’s cottage – there are seven, including the mossy green of the living room sofa, which defines the house’s earthy palette. Juliette and Sarah-Jane, who provide insightful commentary on their design decisions throughout, explain that for them, colour is a continual source of inspiration that can evoke particular moods and shape the experience of a space. Above all, it can create joy. 03 Cape to Bluff: A Survey of Residential Architecture from Aotearoa New Zealand by Simon Devitt, Andrea Stevens and Luke Scott (Independently published, 2022) This sprawling book takes us tramping across the full length of Aotearoa New Zealand, from Cape Reinga on the northenmost tip of Te Ika-a-Māui North Island to the town of Bluff in the deep south of Te Waipounamu South Island. It features 30 houses designed by New Zealand architects, each with a deep connection to the landscape around them. Mountain House by RTA Studio cuts an angular, sculptural figure against the craggy, snow-capped peaks of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana; Light Mine House by Crosson Architects appears as a ramshackle cluster of pods dotted across the rolling sand dunes of Kūaotunu; Reef House by Strachan Group Architects is a tidy nest perched on the clifftop overlooking Tīkapa Moana Hauraki Gulf; and Ophir House by Nott Architects is a modernist sci-fi retreat on the surreal, moonscape-like terrain of the Maniatoto. With photography by Simon Devitt, words by Andrea Stevens and layout by Luke Scott, this is a work of impressive scope that provides an extensive catalogue of Aotearoa New Zealand residential architecture. It is a celebration of place, and of architecture that embraces place. In that way, it is a success, inspiring awe and envy. 04 Tasmania Living: Quiet, Conscious Living in Australia’s South by Joan-Maree Hargreaves and Marita Bullock (Thames and Hudson Australia, 2022) Tasmania, Joan-Maree Hargreaves and Marita Bullock write, is a place where nature looms large, where cities and towns are diminutive and the open sky “offers an encounter with the immense.” Against this dramatic backdrop, Tasmania Living takes us on a tour of a diverse group of homes, from a restored Greek Revival villa to a Farnsworth House-esque glass holiday home, and tells the stories of their occupants. The authors note that the houses highlight the “art of living quietly” in the natural environment, while demonstrating a sensitivity to Tasmania’s history. They reflect on the brutal realities of colonialism and consider how living consciously on lutruwita/ Tasmania today entails hearing and recognizing the Palawa as the ongoing owners of the land. However, given its focus on “asking bigger questions about our place and purpose,” the book is noticeably quiet on the housing affordability crisis battering the island – a crisis at least partially driven by a market that prioritizes prestige projects over affordable housing. Despite this blind spot, this is a thoughtful work that encourages contemplation and reflection. It is also a handsome book filled with breathtaking scenery and exceptional architecture.