Sustainable Home Design

Developing Sustainability for Australian Homes

Our belief in the principles of sustainability influences our designs, from the very first concepts to the final design of major home extensions and renovations.

Important decisions affecting the energy efficiency of a home are always made in consultation with our clients during the early design stages.

When Martin Kolarik designs renovations and extensions to homes, he aims to raise the design standards. His design will match your contemporary lifestyle, incorporate sustainable solutions and make the extension sympathetic to your existing home.

1. What does Sustainability mean for house extensions and renovations?

Defining sustainability in the design of house extensions and renovations context means meeting the current and future demands by reducing or minimising the following:

• the depletion of natural resources 
• the ecological footprint during construction
• the embodied energy used in the creation and transportation of the building materials
• greenhouse emissions during the life of the home
• the waste associated with demolition

Sustainability is important whether you are planning a ‘forever home’ for your family, or selling your home at some stage in the future for other families to enjoy for generations.

2. Your values

Our clients have a significant role in making housing more sustainable.

Awareness that there are environmentally sustainable design principles and expressing these preferences to your designer will help to minimise your family’s impact on the environment.

There is always a balancing act on budget, as sustainable solutions may come with a price premium, and therefore finding affordable options with the best outcome is essential.

Your own values will determine your specific choices, e.g., choosing between thermally efficient windows and a butler’s pantry. Alternatively, you may choose to increase your budget and do both.

Sustainable choices can be made minimally, or incrementally, for an eco-conscious home renovation that is affordable.

3. Guiding Design Principles

We take a holistic approach to home design to minimise the impact on the environment.

Guiding principles when designing with sustainability as a priority:

• Design elegant homes with longevity to meet the evolution of needs and style well into the future
• Select and offer certified materials that have low embodied energy
• Reduce waste when extending your home by preserving and restoring as much of the existing house as is feasible
• Passive solar design for energy efficiency – e.g., natural heating, cooling, and daylight through orientation of the house and positioning of the windows.
• Reduction of energy consumption, and in turn, your power bills – minimise your reliance on mechanical climate control within the home by incorporating:
  • Insulation – barriers to heat flow for a comfortable ambient temperature
  • Shading – eaves, awnings, and shutters
  • Ventilation – windows positioned for natural ventilation
  • Glazing –thermally efficient windows
  • Condensation management – to reduce mould for good air quality
  • Landscaping – to reduce heat loads on your property

• In NSW, BASIX is the building sustainability index designed to create strong sustainable planning measures to make all residential dwellings in NSW energy and water efficient
• Renewable energy generation – solar panels and hot water
• Prudent use of water – rainwater tanks
• Improve conditions for working from home, which reduces emissions due to travel
• Resilient design for varying climatic conditions, e.g., building in Bushfire Prone Areas

The secret of good design is to find the “Sweet Spot” where the design successfully balances aesthetics, function, sustainability, excitement, and cost.

4. How is this going to affect my renovation?

Good design has longevity and innate sustainability.

We pride ourselves in creating elegant high-quality homes which are a pleasure to live in.

A home with longevity reduces waste and is financially responsible.

Martin Kolarik Home Design sustainable home design priorities:

• Elegant design that remains timeless
• Considered design solutions – light-filled spaces that are thermally comfortable all year round that is designed to go beyond the mandatory requirements of BASIX
• Consumption of materials – creating a home that is the right size for the family, with rooms only as large as necessary to meet your needs
• Quality materials – selection of materials with low embodied energy, that are renewable and locally sourced, where possible
• Quality construction with reduced need for maintenance and repairs
• Waste minimisation – preserve as much of the existing house as is viable when extending and renovating

Key sustainable solutions are well aligned with good architectural design principles. We work with site-specific natural features of orientation, topography, light, ventilation, and vegetation, e.g., the use of skylights to bring northern light into an extension on the southern side of the house.

As a designer, with your agreement, selections of sustainable materials are made (for example, Weathertex claddings that are “Green Tag Certified” and 100% natural).

5. As a client, what can I do?

Firstly, decide what are your priorities.

Be discerning between what you need, and what you want.

Determine where sustainable solutions sit with your values and how far you are willing, or able, to pursue suitable solutions.

Choose a designer for your project who aligns with your values, inspires confidence and intuitively feels right to you.

6. Balancing act

Our aim is to understand your dreams and help them become a reality.

We understand that sustainability features and solutions may not be top of mind when your main objective is to create a comfortable home to accommodate your family’s needs.

At Martin Kolarik Home Design, we provide site-specific information to enable our clients to make informed decisions regarding the best way for them to renovate their homes. We support initiatives that contribute to the reduction of emissions.

Next Steps

For further information, you may also like to visit the Australia’s Guide to Environmentally Sustainable Homes website at https://www.yourhome.gov.au/buy-build-renovate/design-home

If you live in Sydney’s North Shore, simply contact Martin Kolarik to discuss your priorities to achieve the best, most affordable and sustainable home design solutions for you and your family.