Smart Home by Green Sheep Collective in Seddon, Australia

Project: Smart Home Architects: Green Sheep Collective Location: Seddon, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Photography: Emma Cross

Smart Home by Green Sheep Collective

Green Sheep Collective has completed the Smart Home project in the suburb of Seddon, Melbourne, Australia. This project involves the renovation and extension of a single-fronted wooden Victorian cottage using a wide range of social, ecological, and passive solar design principles to create a modern home that is highly environmentally sustainable. Of course, this is not the first such project for this studio; in fact, they have previously applied similar approaches to the Boulevard House in Melbourne.

The Smart Home is a renovation and extension of a two-bedroom, single-fronted wooden Victorian cottage located in central Melbourne. It uses a broad range of social, healthy, ecological, and passive solar design principles and products to create an environmentally highly sustainable home that is also small in size and affordable. We aimed to create a project that achieves: An outstanding, accessible home: It was important for us to create an example of the best environmentally sustainable design that is achievable and accessible to many Australians. The final construction cost per square meter for this project is $2300/m² + GST. We consider this an excellent result for a home designed to high ecological sustainability principles.

A small but smart outcome: A more spacious home, regardless of how environmentally designed and built it is, still has an impact on the environment. A Thrive study showed that each 12-meter square home in Australia creates the equivalent of 80,000 km car emissions, consumes water for four people over 90 years, and costs $24,000 in construction and energy expenses for its entire lifetime. By carefully evaluating the need for each additional square meter of home (and using a mezzanine instead of a second floor), we added 20% more useful internal space to the existing home with only an additional 13 m² of area. Nearly 50% land coverage: We aim to preserve as many natural elements in our projects, especially in highly urbanized conditions, to enhance ecosystem and resident wellbeing.

Our clients requested a more thermally comfortable home with the best ecological characteristics. This project faced several critical challenges that needed to be overcome in order to achieve these goals of sustainability and design. Limitations included shading, poor orientation, and a narrow 7.5-meter-wide site located close to the boundary. The existing home was dark and leaking with a porch at the back. We needed to demolish the porch and create an integrated solution connecting the existing home with the new renovation, improving the thermal efficiency of the entire house. We had to modify the original client brief for a second floor to achieve sustainability (and budget) goals.

Our clients were unaware of the ecological, spatial, and financial costs of 'going up': The additional space needed for a second floor to accommodate stairs and associated movement areas; 'hidden' costs of labor, lifting structures, insurance, materials, engineering, and design to meet building code requirements for building intersections; heating, cooling, cleaning, and maintenance requirements with subsequent costs, etc. Our response creates interesting volumes for architectural beauty while minimizing wasted space, ensuring full floor plan efficiency through smart storage and separate living solutions. A single-level extension includes an open living, dining, and kitchen area that opens through large sliding glass doors onto the deck.

The mezzanine above the storeroom and office utilizes volumes created by high vaulted ceilings, while large skylights increase light perception and space, acting as 'thermal chimneys' to aid natural ventilation in summer. Storage is integrated into built-in dining chairs, and the office can be easily closed by sliding open a large door. The mezzanine staircase is also integrated into this space, where it can retract and hide within a bookshelf. Brick planters are positioned right by the windows to bring the garden closer to the house and allow growing herbs directly at the kitchen window. This intelligent storage combines with a beautiful choice of materials, natural lighting, and an interesting form to transform the cottage into a high-performance, healthy, and comfortable modern home.

–Green Sheep Collective