Light House architecture and science in Fyshwick, Australian Capital Territory, Australia | Home improvement

Light House architecture and science

Locality: Fyshwick, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Address: Level 1, Fyshwick Markets, Cnr Mildura St & Dalby St 2609 Fyshwick, ACT, Australia

Website: https://lighthouseteam.com.au

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24.01.2022 THIS is good housing. Urambi Village and Wybalena Grove are fabulous examples of high quality, high density co-housing. These days we design for cars not people. It has to change. Thank you, Michael Dysart. Thank you DESIGN Canberra and Tim Ross.... We are delighted to be working on two Dysart homes at the moment (one at Urambi and another in Aranda) and have worked on others in the past.

23.01.2022 While the move from 6 stars to 7 stars has been delayed by government, *again*, at Light House we continue to design cost-effective, award-winning, climate-responsive homes that rate at 8 stars here in Canberra’s climate of extremes and at 10 stars in friendlier climates like that of Brisbane. Don’t listen to the people who tell you it can’t be done. Your life’s biggest investment, the place that will shelter you and your loved ones, is worthy of good design and readily acce...ssible energy efficiency measures. Aim for the stars! AND don’t miss the chance to visit our HIA National GreenSmart award winning project The Village in Rivett during the fabulous DESIGN Canberra festival. Book your tickets quickly... two of the four tours have already sold out and the others are filling fast! https://designcanberrafestival.com.au//contemporary-archi/

23.01.2022 The latest episode of Domain’s Property Unpacked podcast includes a chat with Jenny about Sustainable House Day and what makes a sustainable home. Starting around the 12:15 mark.

23.01.2022 House star ratings are climate specific - which makes sense. Unfortunately, even in the housing industry, very few people know this. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s difficult to design energy efficient homes with NatHERS star ratings of 8 stars and above... UNLESS you live in Tasmania or the more extreme climates of some inland parts of the mainland. Here’s an example to prove our point. Taking the concept design we presented today (for a tricky site in Canberra) and simu...lating it’s thermal performance in different Aus cities, without ANY design or specification changes, it rates as follows: - Canberra 8.0 stars - Melbourne 8.3 stars - Adelaide 8.7 stars - Perth 9.3 stars - Sydney 9.9 stars - Brisbane 10 stars - Hobart 7.8 stars In real life, we would of course tailor the design to the local climate so this should actually be an underestimate of what can be achieved (ie. in Brisbane we should be able to get 10++ stars!). Six stars is a pathetically low standard. Shoot for the stars everyone! AND note, the scale is not linear - in Canberra an 8 star home requires 53% less combined energy for heating and cooling than a 6 star home the same size. AND note, the rating is per square metre so if your 8 star home is twice as big as your neighbour’s 8 star home it will cost MUCH more to run. #NatHERS #BERSPro #thermalperformancesimulation #thermalmodelling #architectureandscience #notrocketscience #designforsiteandclimate #energyefficiency #designforcomfort #designfirefficiency

22.01.2022 Let there be light, energy and connection! The LH team are incredibly excited to be part of Australia’s largest community solar farm. Jenny first attended meetings about the potential project back in 2015. We took the leap of faith, answering the call for seed investors, in 2016. Today, this magnificent example of community-driven renewable energy was switched on and Jenny was there with a BIG solar powered grin.... HUGE thanks to all of the incredible volunteers at Solarshare who have been working on making this real for TEN years. We love your vision and appreciate, enormously, your hard work. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/13238882

22.01.2022 A new member (there have been 45+ requests to join today!) just asked: Is it possible to build energy efficient homes without being outside the scope of an ave...rage person’s budget? It reminded me of this 2018 article in Sanctuary Magazine that many 100s of our new members may never have seen. Sustainability and affordability can co-exist. Eight stars is the sweet spot. Welcome and thanks for the question Sam Wassell. BTW we’ve recently cracked 24,000 members. Go team MEEH! * All MEEH members need to know about Renew. A fabulous not-for-profit membership organisation with LOADS of terrific resources. The MEEH admins (Tim, Richard and I) are all members and big fans of this long-running organisation - we encourage you to check it out: https://renew.org.au

21.01.2022 Huge shout out to all the landscape architects with a sustainability focus - we love your work! In summer, shade is one of your greatest friends. Shade from plants gives the added bonus of transpirational cooling - plants transpire to release water vapour; acting like nature’s evaporative cooler. Plants also provide biodiversity benefits, reduce the heat island effect and make you FEEL good. Looking at greenery is good for you. ... For us, at Light House, building science is not just about physics and heat transfer through the building envelope. Effective building science requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach; its also about biology, chemistry, psychology, building architecture, landscape architecture... Healthy homes are joyful, functional spaces not just places that use very little energy. Architecture + Science. Who’d a thunk it?!

21.01.2022 Posted @withregram Karen and Jenny put a lot of effort into responding to enquiries about making homes more energy efficient, comfortable and sustainable. We often get emails thanking us for our time and helpful free advice. Yesterday we received a beautiful bunch of flowers! Thank you lovely, appreciative people - you made our day. We share these big grins and this lovely bouquet to cheer you all on. Keep up the great work everyone, you’re making a difference. ... It’s also a nice reminder that the Light House team is just a bunch of humans doing what they love. #sustainablehousing

21.01.2022 Concept design 27 of 2020 is an incredibly clever rejig (reno without extension) of a lovely tri-level house in Aranda; a house that had been extended very awkwardly in the past. The result of the past extension was a very confusing and hazardous circulation space between the living areas and a kitchen tucked out the back (where the proposed laundry now is) disconnected from everything. This concept design fixes all of that... and takes the home from less than 5 stars to ne...arly 8 stars! We love nothing better than massively improving the functionality and thermal performance of homes. This house will feel soooo goood How cool is the amazing library space in the first sketch?! This room is created in an area of the home that is currently a strange, casual dining space and large corridor to the hidden kitchen. #sustainablehousing #conceptdesign #conceptsketch #architecturalsketch

20.01.2022 Only ONE week until Sustainable House Day! Head over to the website to register. Sustainable House Day 2020 is an online event, allowing access into Australia’s most unique and inspiring sustainable homes (including four Light Houses... three of them national HIA GreenSmart award winners!).... Throughout the day three virtual rooms will host sessions delving into topics from design, building, renovating or retrofitting sustainable homes. https://sustainablehouseday.com

18.01.2022 We are delighted to be supporters of this fabulous initiative. We also have a pretty cool story about saving a backyard so that it could become involved in this.* Only two of the 15 Light House team members actually live in the inner north but we strongly encourage those of you who do, to get involved. You have until next Monday 16th to apply! *You can find out about the awesome science testing/retrofitting project we did that prevented the need to build a secondary residence in the backyard so that it could instead become a magnificent community garden, here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hBVdyOB6cgU)

18.01.2022 Tomorrow, Jenny will be presenting in the ‘All-electric Homes’ session of the National Energy Efficiency Conference. You can check out the full program here: https://www.eec.org.au/neec20/program

18.01.2022 The boss doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty. In fact she was VERY happy digging holes in the mud today! The Light House team are proud to be sponsors of this terrific project in Downer.

17.01.2022 HOUSES NEED HOLISTIC THINKING Airtightness, ventilation, insulation and moisture control all go hand-in-hand and must be considered together when building or renovating homes. Focusing on one, without thinking through the impact on the others, is asking for trouble and just not sensible if the desired outcome is an energy-efficient and healthy home.... People often confuse ventilation and air leakage. This short blog summarises the important differences.

17.01.2022 Sponsored by Light House, this session explores the best ways to draught-proof and insulate your home, some of the easiest ways to achieve greater energy effici...ency. This free peer-to-peer education is part of our larger program for Sustainable House Day. Tune in at 12:30pm 1:10pm (AEST), this Sunday. Simply register then join us on the day via the links on our website. https://sustainablehouseday.com/program/ Pictured: Canberra Beach House in Wright, ACT featured in this session. https://sustainablehouseday.com/listi/canberra-beach-house/

16.01.2022 Don’t miss the chance to visit our award-winning, multi-generational, co-housing project in Rivett as part of the fabulous DESIGN Canberra festival.

14.01.2022 Make the switch! Try this transition over Spring. Read the post and article below and check out the Conservation Council ACT’s terrific new Make the Switch website: www.maketheswitch.org.au Oh, and join My Efficient Electric Home!

14.01.2022 Our director Jenny is delighted to be emceeing the DESIGN Canberra keynote talk 'Suburbia's time in the sun' by Bernard Salt at the Shine Dome next Tuesday. Widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading social commentators by business, the media and the broader community, Bernard will undoubtedly deliver a fascinating, thought provoking and entertaining presentation. He is one of the most in-demand speakers on the Australian corporate speaking circuit. Bernard heads The Demog...raphics Group which provides advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business. He writes two weekly columns for The Australian newspaper and is an adjunct professor at Curtin University Business School. He is well known to the wider community for his penchant for identifying and tagging new tribes and social behaviours such as the ‘Seachange Shift’, the ‘Man Drought’, ‘PUMCINS’ (pronounced pumkins) and the ‘Goats Cheese Curtain’. He is perhaps best known for popularising the phrase smashed avocado globally. Join Jenny and other Canberra thought leaders at this terrific event. Read more and book tickets here: https://designcanberrafestival.com.au//suburbias-time-in-/

14.01.2022 Sustainable House Day 2020 is virtual and officially happening tomorrow with a jam-packed program of on-line panel discussions about everything you can imagine to do with sustainable housing. Check out the full program here (Light House is involved in three of sessions): https://sustainablehouseday.com/program/ Videos of all of the participating houses are already available for watching - below is our clever 'two-homes-in-one' Finniss House. You can see all of the participating ACT homes at the following link: https://sustainablehouseday.com/explore-homes/

13.01.2022 We presented a nifty, rejig concept design this morning. With clever options for staging the transformation of the home [and shed out the back - check out how much gear you can store in that!], the final result is a super-functional, space and energy efficient, 8-star home. Knowing the potential, and understanding the possible pathways to get there, is empowering and motivating for our clients. Step by step ... For those science nerds among you, here are some more details on the predicted annual energy requirements of this brick veneer, suspended timber floor home (C = cooling H = heating T = total; all in MJ/m2; convert MJ to kWh by dividing by 3.6; the internal floor area of the home is 126 m2) A. Original house - 3.3 stars C 33.0 H 329.9 T 362.9 B. Current house - 6.2 stars (some ceiling, wall and floor insulation, plus glazing, retrofit work has already been done) C 27.6 H 132.2 T 159.8 56% reduction compared to A C. Proposed changes - 8.0 stars (rejig layout, further glazing upgrades and a couple of changes to window sizes/positions, retractable or deciduous external shading to east and west, draught sealing) C 9.1 H 67.9 T 77.0 48% reduction compared to B 79% reduction compared to A Many existing homes, even lightweight homes without thermal mass, have HUGE thermal potential. Knockdown rebuild is NOT the only way.

12.01.2022 Check out a 5 min presentation about our national HIA GreenSmart Energy Efficiency award-winning 'White House' by our lovely clients, Nat and Dave. Project architect Sarah Lebner will also be participating (with Nat and Dave) in a 'live' discussion on Sustainable House Day (THIS SUNDAY) from 2:00pm 2:40pm. The session is titled Designing Climate Resilient Homes and is happening in Room 1: Designing for Sustainability. Check out the full program here: https://sustainablehouseday.com/program

12.01.2022 This is a fabulous initiative. Light House is very proud to be a sponsor of the first two micro-forest projects, in Downer and Watson. Jenny is super chuffed to be the person planting the tree in that picture (in Downer). Don’t miss Edwina’s one hour on-line workshop on Monday April 19. See below.

12.01.2022 This session on SHD this Sunday includes our White House - announced earlier this month as winner of the AUSTRALIAN HIA GreenSmart Energy Efficiency Award. http://www.lighthouseteam.com.au/modular-/jenny-scw4p-pwh4j

12.01.2022 Sustainable House Day 2020 is going to be a cracker!

11.01.2022 Our principal architect, Sarah Lebner, has just presented at the Australian Bushfire Building Conference in the Blue Mountains. Her presentation Designing for Active Defence is based on close personal experiences last summer in Corryong, as well as her architecture training and our recent collaboration with bushfire consultant, Jeff Dau. Both Sarah and her husband are from farming families in Corryong. One side lost the family home early and many frightening days were spent preparing and defending the home of the other side of the clan. At Light House we firmly believe scientists and architects have a crucial role to play in climate change mitigation and resilience. Four members of our team are attending the conference.

11.01.2022 The DESIGN Canberra festival started today! Over the three weeks of the festival The Australian Institute of Architects, ACT Chapter's ARCH-HUB will explore various aspects of architecture: excellence in design, excellence in education, and excellence in craft. Interested in architecture? Drop in to meet an architect and find out about the design process and recently completed local projects, including winners of the 2020 ACT Architecture Awards. This is a great opportunity f...or you to ask the experts about how to engage an architect, how to prepare for the design process, and what to expect during the design and construction process. Tuesdays 10, 17 and 24 Nov from 10am 1pm. This is a free event located at ARCH-HUB, City Walk (the modified black shipping container in the image below). Tomorrow, Tue 10th November, Light House’s own Duncan Hall will be available to chat, along with 2020 award-winning architect Joanna Nelson and Belinda Barnes from Cox Architecture. Don’t miss this great chance to chat great design!

11.01.2022 This beautiful home in Flynn is many things: 1. a tree house 2. a solar house 3. a bridge house 4. a two-in-one house... On a very tricky, steep and rocky site, the home has overcome many challenges. The result is a light-filled sanctuary full of surprises - it feels suspended in parts while sitting very solidly in others. Superb and sustainable. #sustainablehousing #treehouse #steepsite

10.01.2022 The Light House team had a ball (and a feast!) participating in the Conservation Council ACT Region Spring Dinner last night. We were also delighted to sponsor the event. Thank you Rosnay Organic for the delicious wine to complement the delicious three course vegetarian feast (delivered in a Tesla)! The Council’s terrific Christmas auction is happening right now... several members of our team are bidding and watching things closely. Check it out and start bidding on the 90+ donated goodies: https://app.galabid.com/conservationact/items

10.01.2022 This morning, our director/scientist Jenny and local electrician Rob Burrell of RBE Solar-Batteries chatted to Lish Fejer on ABC Canberra 666 about going ALL-ELECTRIC and the ACT Government’s new zero-interest $2k - 15k loan scheme for products that will reduce household emissions. https://www.actsmart.act.gov.au//sustainable-household-sch The number one message was: "get some help to work out the best bang-for-buck for your particular home."... The free Actsmart - Canberra program here in the ACT has loads of info and resources to tap into (including free workshops). https://www.actsmart.act.gov.au/ The Conservation Council ACT Region have a fabulous website to help you with the transition from gas to electric: MAKE THE SWITCH. https://maketheswitch.org.au/ And, Jenny is co-admin of an incredible Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home where more than 26,000 people from all around the country share their questions, ideas, issues and experiences.

10.01.2022 Nearly all of us... and nearly all of us looking at the camera! Fun, impromptu photo shoot in the carpark today (no professionals involved).

09.01.2022 Jenny was delighted to attend the launch of the DESIGN Canberra festival this morning with so many passionate champions of design, surrounded by amazing works by new designers... in our incredible designed city. Make sure you check out the festival program - more than 200 fabulous events are happening over the next three weeks. Spots are more limited this year, so get in quick! https://designcanberrafestival.com.au

08.01.2022 This year we have FOUR projects involved in Sustainable House Day and we are also a sponsor. Click below to find out more. Three of the projects are winners of different national HIA GreenSmart awards.

06.01.2022 MY EFFICIENT ELECTRIC HOME at the SUSTAINABLE LIVING FESTIVAL 10 Feb, 7 pm zoom webinar event. Your three admins, Jenny Edwards, Richard Keech, and Tim Forcey ...will be together presenting, uh I think, for the first time ever! Zoomlink / booking details later when that gets sorted. Mark your calendars! (Well, numbers limited to 500...)

06.01.2022 Light House director and building scientist, Jenny Edwards, has been testing houses since 2008. She’s also been raising awareness of the importance of airtightness and insulation for cost-effective sustainable housing over that time. Get a laugh from the 2009 video below... and more serious insight into what she has been saying to government and industry for 12 years now on pages 146-158 of this transcript of a 2009 presentation to the ACT Government: http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hans/2009/comms/climate07.pdf

06.01.2022 Are we experiencing collective cognitive dissonance in Canberra? Yes, we are. In a city that choked on smoke in January and suffered through a bushfire season that made our city more polluted than New Delhi, are we really building the world’s biggest houses? Last week, the CommSec Home Size Report confirmed that the average new house in the ACT surpasses those found in the country that coined the term McMansion.

06.01.2022 Flashback two years. This amazing project was really taking shape. You can check out the completed version here: http://www.lighthouseteam.com.au/project/bolt-on-tree-house

04.01.2022 We are delighted to be part of this great event. Jenny’s disappointed not to be visiting in person on the 25th of October but we all know the virtual world opens up new opportunities and audiences. She can’t wait to get down to Bendigo (physically) soon to check out all of the fabulous sustainability related activities happening in the region. Get a quick taste of things in the terrific video below.

04.01.2022 Ok, Canberrans, with 34 as our warm up today, the first heatwave has finally arrived. This year, thankfully, without smoke. Jenny has just done an ABC Canberra radio interview with some tips on how to cope (assuming, like residents of Light House homes, you don’t have evaporative cooling): 1. Close the house early in the day. Shut the windows and doors. Resist opening up until the external temp is below the internal. See number 4.... *1b. If you have a reverse cycle air conditioner (RCAC) try setting the thermostat higher than those crazy chilly office spaces you may work in or visit. You don’t need to be cold, just comfy. Most of us LOVE a 25-27 degree day in the shade so try RCAC settings around that level. 2. Shade external windows - old sheets, tarps, bits of cardboard will do... it does not have to be pretty! Stop the sun striking the glass. (After this heatwave start making a plan for shade sails, awnings, external blinds or deciduous plants so you’re in a better position for future summers) 3. Sit under or next to a fan. If you’re struggling, pop your feet in a bucket of water and spray yourself with water from a misting bottle. These things don’t change the air temperature but they can have a big impact on comfort and health. Don’t forget to drink water too, of course! 4. When the outside temperature has dropped (we’re lucky, most nights are going to be quite cool), open the windows wide and turn all your fans on high - ceiling fans, pedestal fans, desk fans and exhaust fans. Point the portable fans OUT the window - this will cause cool air to be drawn IN from the other side of your home. The aim is to cool the house down as much as possible overnight so you’re in a good starting condition when you go back to number 1 the next morning. Next Wednesday looks nice More tips here: http://www.lighthouseteam.com.au/staying-cool-in-summer

04.01.2022 This morning we presented concept design number 3 of 2021 to overseas-based clients. With one architect in her home office, one design team member at her Light House office desk and one scientist in the Light House office meeting room... you always get a hive-mind approach from the Light House team! [If you want to see more of our concept designs - we share them ALL over at our Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/light_house_archi_science] This project is a super-doo...per rejig of a little old house, on a very steep hill, in Cook. The proposed design takes the house from 3.8 stars to 7.8 stars (a 70% reduction in heating/cooling needs) and massively improves the liveability for ‘ageing-in-place’. The design also makes better use of the great views to the north and south and provides fabulous connection to the rear yard. Smaller, smarter, sustainable.

03.01.2022 What a glorious night to show people how good... good design is! Four back-to-back tours of our terrific National HIA GreenSmart award-winning, co-housing project in Rivett tonight as part of the amazing DESIGN Canberra festival. Thank you to the incredible @craft.act team for making these events possible AND last, but not least, our brilliant and trusting clients (& their pets!) for so generously letting us into their homes for the evening. ... #designcanberrafestival #cohousing #sustainablehousing #designimproveslives

01.01.2022 Building delays and price increases - it’s real and not just here in Canberra! In Canberra, to us, it seems the impact of the HomeBuilder grant has been quite small. Our impression is that people sitting at home during the pandemic last winter got a sudden and strong appreciation for how inefficient and uncomfortable their homes are. The preceding bushfire season was also a bit of a wake up call about home comfort and health. Now, while not spending money on holidays, a lot o...f Canberrans are wanting to renovate or rebuild. More than three quarters of our current architecture and science work, and the steady stream of enquiries, is about renovating and retrofitting existing homes. The current material, and trade*, shortage is not just impacting new builds. (*This article doesn’t talk about trade shortages... another increasingly problematic issue). Don’t shoot the messenger when someone warns you about time delays and cost increases. It’s completely out of the control of the architecture industry. Here at Light House we do our best to keep you informed - far better you know at the start of the design process and make informed decisions. Way too many people fall in love with a design that they then cannot afford to build (and often one with a much lower star rating than they could have had). Data is the key - knowledge is power. Get cost and energy efficiency input early from experienced sources. Smaller, smarter, sustainable homes cost less, and take less time, to build... but you won’t be immune to the impacts of a hot market. PS. Get energy efficiency modelling done DURING the design process, not at the end. It is so much more cost-effective to optimise the design early on, while it’s on paper, and before you are mentally/emotionally/financially committed to something.

01.01.2022 This session during SHD on Sunday features our Fabode project - recently announced as winner of the AUSTRALIAN HIA GreenSmart Renovation/Addition Award. http://www.lighthouseteam.com.au/projects-renova/the-fabode

01.01.2022 Hot off the press (well, recorded on Aug 29 but posted online today)! Next weekend there will be MANY more fabulous homes to check out. Meanwhile, come on a sho...rt 9 min tour of my home and give Zac a virtual pat (he’s very disappointed about the lack of physical visitors this year). Sustainable House Day 2020 is going to be brilliant. It is NEXT Sunday 20th September and not to be missed. You can check out homes right across the country and participate in a wide variety of live online info sessions and discussions throughout the day. Check out the jam-packed program here: https://sustainablehouseday.com/program/ #zacthesolarpassivedog