Hawthorne Eco Home Renovation

The secret of an eco-friendly home is to use the natural light and breezes to your best advantage. This is achieved by opening up and changing the layout of a home. This home has a large skylight in the kitchen to bring in natural light. Shutters are placed throughout the house, and the back has been opened up with an indoor/outdoor deck area to catch the breezes. This has been very effective to regulate the temperature of the home.

This Hawthorne eco home renovation morphed the home from a two-bedroom cottage for a couple, to a three-bedroom, two-storey family home. The changes were staged beginning with lifting and moving the house on the 400sqm block. The major alterations were part of a larger scheme where the block behind became a townhouse development. Having the house included in the development had bonuses as well as limitations. One positive was that the driveway could go down the side and around the back of the house so that the garage, now underneath the kitchen is out of sight from the street. The challenge, however, was to increase the floor area within the envelope dictated by the development.

There was not enough room for a casual living area and a deck, so we added just one indoor/outdoor room. Indoor/outdoor rooms are more common now as people see the benefit of making a deck more like a room.

The black veneer on the kitchen would not work without the clerestory which brings in so much natural light. The black also works well because of the bright “spark” that is the splashback above the cooktop. The little red tiles were not the first choice but now seem to make the kitchen. The new kitchen and bathroom were completed during the most recent stage of renovation.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you realise your dreams with a home design that suits your lifestyle.

Project Number: 990102

This Hawthorne eco home renovation won the 2016 ArChdes Residential Architecture Award.