b'Another eco-friendly feature is the installation of insulatingThese houses have to be driven to perform at their best. polystyrene under the tiled concrete slab oor system.The occupants play an active role in tempering their own The roof and walls also offer a high level of insulation,environment; opening or closing windows, shutters, screens using Gold Pink Batts made from 70% recycled glass. Theand blinds to track the sun or the breeze, Pat explains.external cladding is nger-jointed weatherboards made from high-quality cedar off-cuts sourced from sustainableDesigned by the couples son Dave and his Canadian forests. There is also a 5000- litre rainwaterfellow director, Pat de Pont, at Auckland-based tank, solar panels on the roof, a wood-burner for space heating, louvres for natural cross-ventilation, and threeStrachan Group Architects (SGA), it is located layers of sunscreening. on the site of a 1910 workers cottage. The exterior cedar sunscreens play an important role in preventing too much solar gain in the summer from theWhile, from a stylistic point of view, the house is totally north and west. This, in turn, allows the thermal mass ofdifferent from the surrounding villas, the architects were the concrete oor to help keep the house cool. In winter,careful to ensure that the roof-line of the two-storied the lower western screen slides back to allow the sun tobuilding was not higher than its neighbours. They also penetrate and warm the concrete inside.integrated the avour of the street into their choice of 14 |'