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canberra builder

Canberra’s Rock Wall House Listed as 2014 Finalist

By News
Caladenia Street House by Strine Environments The Caladenia Street House was designed in response to climate change effects, including increased temperatures and frequency of heat wave conditions, but deals with these impacts differently from the typical installation and use of air conditioning units. Key initiatives: Correct orientation to suit the micro-climate of the site Ultra Mass Walls and slab with high insulation and thermal isolation. Walls fabricated offsite to reduce waste and increase sustainability. Double glazing High windows for release of warm air in summer We are listed in the Single Dwelling category of the 2014 BPN Sustainability Awards. Our highly insulated thermal house with northern glazing that disappears into the landscape Based on the timeless Millennium Design, this beautiful house uses our highly insulated Thermal Panels, slab, northern glazing and fans to achieve minimal heating and no cooling is necessary. As the planting matures the house will disappear into the landscape. Rock Wall House in Relax Magazine The Canberra Times recently published a great article on the ‘Rock Wall House’.
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Canberra’s Rock Wall House sets energy-efficient standard

By News
Achieving the most energy efficient design possible For architect Ric Butt, the design was all about how to use the block, achieve the most energy efficient design possible and how the garden could be experienced from every room in the house. From his first visit, Ric could see that there was an opportunity to establish a connection between the front entry and the view through to the rear northern garden. The angled design provided two triangular spaces, a cool southern one for summer and a warm northern one for winter. Our highly insulated thermal house with northern glazing that disappears into the landscape Based on the timeless Millennium Design, this beautiful house uses our highly insulated Thermal Panels, slab, northern glazing and fans to achieve minimal heating and no cooling is necessary. As the planting matures the house will disappear into the landscape. Rock Wall House in Relax Magazine The Canberra Times recently published a great article on the ‘Rock Wall House’.
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Solstice House Opening

By News
Media Release: Strine Environments to reveal new Solstice House design in time for the Winter Solstice Strine Environments, the leading sustainable design and construction company, will on Sunday 21 June reveal its newest design, Solstice House, to coincide with the 2015 Winter Solstice. Located in Arndell Street in the Canberra suburb of Macquarie, the Solstice House is an architecturally-designed sustainable living solution and ideal for those looking to downsize or make use of limited land or budget. The ACT Planning Minister, Mick Gentleman MLA, will officially declare the house open at 12 noon. The house integrates design excellence with sustainability, using precast concrete and environmental construction as the lucore element of the building process and as a result, lowers the running and maintenance cost for occupiers compared with a standard home. Using the principles of passive solar design, as well as a range of unique products and techniques, Strine homes maintain an average of 22˚C all year round – eliminating the need for excessive and costly heating and cooling usage. Ric Butt, Principal Architect and Director of Strine Environments, has pioneered environmental sustainability practice in design and construction in Australia and says it is now easier for Australians to live comfortably in extreme weather climates. “The passive solar design used in the construction of our homes virtually eliminates the need for heating and cooling within the building. We achieve this by using thermal mass, such as concrete walls and floors, and…
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Solar Power – What is the return on the investment?

By Green architecture, Green Factsheet, Solar power
Solar energy (energy from the sun) can be used in a passive (see our Fact Sheet on thermal mass) or in an active way. Solar electricity (active) is often referred to as Photo Voltaic (PV) power as it is produced by PV cell collectors. The most common active uses of solar energy are for solar hot water heating and for solar electric power. Solar hot water heaters are usually roof mounted and can be flat-plate collectors with either an integrated hot water storage tank or a separate tank, or evacuated tube collectors with a separate tank. We asked local industry expert David Payne from SOLARGAIN to write an information sheet on solar hot water heating and solar electric power for us as we have dealt with him over many years, and value his industry knowledge immensely. David Payne: Investing in Solar (the facts behind the myths) Today more than ever investing in solar electric power & solar hot water is one of the best investments one can make. Dramatic reductions in the capital cost of solar systems have been seen over the past 5 years and coupled with the ever increasing cost of energy means anyone with access to capital should really consider solar has a part of their investment portfolio. ‘But with the removal of government high feed-in Tariffs, I’ll never see my money back’ This is a common opinion within the public when it comes to solar and…
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Thermal mass – How it works to heat and cool your home

By Green architecture, Green Factsheet, Thermal mass
In the recent heat wave conditions of early 2014 where temperatures reached the mid-40s, our houses did not need air conditioning to maintain a constant temperature of around 25 degrees effectively making them ‘climate proof’ The use of thermal mass significantly reduces energy usage in residential buildings and provides the ability to maintain a comfortable internal temperature in a house with no mechanical cooling and minimal mechanical heating. This is important as the cost of electricity rose approximately 94% between December 2007 and March 2013. Thermal Mass is a measure of the heat storage (thermal) capacity of a material. High thermal mass materials take a long time to heat up and a long time to cool down ( Thermal Lag). When exposed to external (solar) heat, materials with high thermal mass (heavier and denser materials like concrete, stone, solid brick) can store more heat than their light weight low thermal mass (straw bale, timber, brick veneer) counterparts. This means that it is possible for high mass buildings to suppress or ‘dampen’ maximum indoor temperatures. Time delay and Damping (Decrement factor) Time delay or thermal lag plays a large part in thermal efficiency. Thermal capacity means that a material takes a long time to heat up and a long time to let this heat through and to release the heat; this delay is known as thermal lag. For instance, Concrete 100mm thick has a 4 hour lag and concrete 300mm thick…
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Single Glazing or Double Glazing – Which is better?

By Energy Efficiency, Glazing, Green Factsheet
The question of single or double glazing to the north is an interesting one. Naturally, double glazing provides better insulation, but it also reduces the amount of solar radiation (heat) coming in to the building, so there is a trade-off. The amount of glazing in a Strine home is maximised on the north elevation, to achieve as close as possible to 100% of the north facade. This is most unusual when compared to standard housing designs. It means that there is a lot more glass in a Strine home. Maximising the glazing to the north takes full advantage of the solar heat gain in winter. The figures below indicate that single glazing is better than double glazing on the north face of a well-designed passive solar house. They explain why in Strines three decades long experience that single glazing (of course with drapes for insulation) to the north works well in the Canberra region climate and doesn’t warrant the extra expense of double glazing. In fact, we always get comments that our homes are lovely and hot in the middle of a sunny winter’s afternoon! That’s when the high thermal mass of a Strine concrete home is essential to store all that free solar heat. The Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) for Canberra winter days is very significant because of the clear skies and sunny days. Around noon Canberra gets approximately 800 watts (that’s 0.8 of a kilowatt) per square…
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If passive solar design is so good why isn’t everyone doing it?

By Green Factsheet, Green living, Passive Solar, Reduce heating & cooling costs
Here at Strine Environments, we are sometimes asked by new clients why, if passive solar design is so good, isn’t everyone doing it? To which we say good question! We believe it comes down to a few key issues, which revolve around a lack of education and misconceptions. Misconceptions A common misconception is that if a house is sustainable, then style will have to be compromised. Surely they can’t coexist because eco-friendly, green energy homes are the provenance of dyed-in-the wool greenies who are not concerned with sharp, contemporary architectural design. Right? They just want to save the planet, which is all well and good, but surely it can’t be beautiful too? Well leaving the stereotypes that surround ‘greenies’ to one side, the answer is of course no. Strine’s passive solar designed homes have been fine-tuned over many years by owner and director Ric Butt, a highly awarded architect in Australia and internationally.  Strine’s homes are about creating comfort for the owners by keeping the inside temperature close to 20º in winter and summer, but the science that goes into this is not visible to the naked eye. To achieve year-round temperature stability, we have developed our own insulated precast concrete panels that allow us to provide high performance thermal mass. If you went into a Strine home you wouldn’t be able to pick if the walls were concrete or plasterboard as you have the option to paint or leave…
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