EXPERT ADVICE
(^) // BUILDING
W
hen I talk about building
smarter homes, I am not
referring to technology.
Being smarter is thinking
about the way we approach the design of
our homes. We need to start future-proofi ng
through design adaptability.
Today’s homes are built larger and on
smaller blocks by families with smaller
households than in the past. The Institute
of Family Studies shows that the average
family household reduced from 4.5 to 2.6
household members between 1911 and 2011.
Although families are getting smaller,
the kids are staying around longer. This is
where design adaptability comes in.
As we have been increasing the size of
the family home, we have been sacrifi cing
the size of the backyard. What happened to
the spaces where the kids would play cricket
in summer and footy in winter? If you were
fortunate enough to have a pool, it would
end up looking like the local community
pool, brimming with kids.
People wonder why Australian sport is
not at the level it used to be. It’s no wonder
that with limited backyard space to play
in, Australians are not performing on
the world sporting stage like they used
to. It is very rare to see children playing
cricket or football in the street today. With
the introduction of the internet and the
evolution of computers and mobile devices,
children prefer to be indoors nowadays,
sending messages and taking pictures of
themselves to post online. If there was an
Olympic event for people taking the perfect
selfi e, I’m sure Australia would win the
gold medal.
So does size matter? I understand that
people want to build large homes, but
what many fail to understand is that the
bigger the house, the more diffi cult it is to
thermally regulate. Although an open-plan
design is fantastic, it creates thermal issues
in regulating temperatures within the
house. With open-plan design, effi ciency is
lost because instead of heating or cooling
a single room, you must now heat or cool
an entire fl oor area. The dependence on
mechanical heating and cooling devices
adds to the increase in our energy bills
while also increasing our carbon footprint.
It is great to own a new home, but
competition between display home builders
to reduce costs comes at a price. These
builders work on very small profi t margins
with high turnover, and to redeem and
increase the profi t margin, they place an
emphasis on variations. Small changes can
add big costs, such as upgrading the kitchen
or minor alterations to plans.
What most people fail to realise is that
although they are receiving a new home at
a competitive rate, the builders can only
supply at these rates by using the cheapest
materials available. Consequently, these
homes have limited lifespans and require
more regular maintenance.
With this type of property, one needs
BUILDING SMARTER HOMES
In today’s society, bigger is always portrayed as better, but when it comes to
our homes, size doesn’t matter; what does is how well it performs and how
smart its design is
WORDS // CHRIS KNIERIM PHOTOGRAPHY // NICK WILSON
to consider aspects of the build that will
provide a more effi cient outcome.
ORIENTATION, INSULATION,
ADAPTABILITY
Many people don’t realise how important the
orientation of a house is. When you consider
purchasing a display home, fi nd out if the
design is adaptable to suit the orientation of
your new block. This will aff ect the heating
and cooling of your home.
Insulation is an important aspect to
consider. Insulate where possible the roof,
fl oors and walls. On an average home,
around 30 to 40 per cent of the external wall
surface is glass and regardless of how well
the remainder of the house is insulated, all
the insulating benefi ts could be lost through
the glazing. Up to 40 per cent of heating
energy can be lost through glazing, while
87 per cent can be absorbed via heat gain
through windows, hence the importance
of performance glazing. In the long run,
the money spent on energy bills to heat
and cool the home far exceeds the cost of
upgrading your windows to a more effi cient
specifi cation at the construction stage.
What if we didn’t have to leave our homes?
Not many people think about adaptability
of design and the importance of future-
proofi ng your home. This is achievable by
building smarter and thinking smarter.
After living in your home and becoming a
part of the community, do you really want
to leave as you get older? Many people don’t
ABOVE Deakin House
from Grand Designs
Australia Series Six