Our next ehouse® is breaking new ground. The proposed weekend retreat, located in the Hauraki Gulf will be utilizing a selection of new building technologies to produce a high performing building. Some so-called ECO houses are essentially a standard house with things plugged into them. Our ehouse® is designed to be high performing even without the solar panels! “if it performs well in the first place you don’t need all the expensive high generating devices because you don’t need them”.

This project is aiming to achieve a Homestar rating of 8.  This may not sound all that impressive however we intend on achieving this without the use of solar panels, solar hot water or wind generation.

If you're interested in how this retreat became what it is today, watch the full 7 part series which shows all of the steps taken. - Here

If you would like to know more information about 'The Scrub' finish please visit Black Clad

Follow Phil and his Habitat for Humanity team around Nepal while the build a house for a well deserving family within 8 days. 

The habitat team used mostly natural resources such as bamboo for the frame. Dung, mud and straw to act as the plaster to build this house.

Helping a well deserving family through tough times is a gratifying feeling. 

If you wish to help next time, please head over to the Habitat for Humanity page and sign up. 

http://www.habitat.org.nz/

If you do not live in New Zealand and wish to volunteer there are Habitat for Humanity located over the globe, so please get into contact with them. 

This video is how the water tank, wall cladding and roof cladding were delivered to Kawau Island. 

Phase 3 is complete. Next phase is the timber framing.

Drone footage of the earthworks, retaining walls and foundation piles. Phase three will get underway shortly with the assembly of all the sub-floor structure.

Drone footage of the earthworks, retaining walls and foundation piles. Phase three will get underway shortly with the assembly of all the sub-floor structure.

While the builders are on site busily erecting the sub-floor structure, the exterior rain screen is being pre-finished. The rain screen is Larch and is finished using a technique called Shou Sugi Ban, an ancient Japanese technique of charring the wood. The benefits of this type of finish are that there is no maintenance, insects don't like it, moss and mould doesn't like it. You get a beautiful sheen to the wood as opposed to the flat dull finish of using a wood stain.

Phase two is complete comprising of the earthworks, retaining walls and foundation piles. Phase three will get underway shortly with the assembly of all the sub-floor structure.

Work is underway on site for what we are calling the ehouse experiment. This project is perhaps an experiment in implementing new to New Zealand building techniques.

The weekend retreat incorporates a range of different things like:

alternate timber framing techniques to significantly reduce thermally bridging, a composite timber floor system and burnt Larch rain screens.

The first ehouse is complete.

http://icr.co.nz/portfolio/entry/ehouse-fairlands/

While the cathedral’s design is loosely based on St. Peter’s Cathedral, Don Justo has created no formal drawings or engineering plans. His background in farming did not stop him from taking on such a challenging project, which incorporates motifs found in castles, churches, and even the White House. Most of the bricks are salvaged from nearby brick factories, and cathedral’s walls are certainly unorthodox.

After leaving life as a farmer to become a Benedictine Monk, Don Justo came down with tuberculosis which forced him out of the monastery in a greatly weakened state. He promised himself that if he survived he would erect a church dedicated to the Lady of The Pillar who he prayed to during that turbulent time.

Originally Blogged @ inhabitat

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Last week’s devastating typhoon in the Philippines has reminded designers of the ongoing challenge of creating safe, temporary shelters when natural disasters hit. Crates of food and water are some of the first types of aid delivered to these ravaged areas; so what if these resources could be designed to also provide shelter and minimize waste? The New York Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture asked just that question and came up with a solution: SodaBIB, a new type of shipping pallet that would allow commonly used plastic bottles to be used for shelter.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/257093720/home2o-roof-system-building-a-prototype-shelter

How could this concept be implemented at a larger scale? The potential to create nomadic housing is one to explore. A tent is a great example to provide temporary shelter but could we develop this further?

A great night was had by all and the general consensus was the home is looking fantastic.  Despite being a cold spring night, the home was cozy and warm, even with all the doors open!

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The roof flashings, metal fascias and barges are all complete now and the building form and structure is really starting to show itself now.

This little handmade building takes sustainability and passive solar principles seriously - it makes no compromises. The simple uncluttered space is used as sleepout, music room, meditation area and party space and sits in the garden with its back to the main house.

It is experimental, incorporating strawbales, locally sourced untreated Macrocarpa and Douglas Fir, Onduline roofing made from recycled cellulose, lime/sawdust/granite sand plaster and many recycled materials: hardwood posts, resawn oregon beams for window and door joinery, Victorian bargeboards, and the flat sections of broken terracotta roof tiles for the mosaic floor.

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SOURCE:http://www.minhall.co.nz/project_sleepout.html

Time lapse of the roof cladding and joinery installation, first ehouse, Waterview, Auckland

Time lapse of the cladding installation, first ehouse, Waterview, Auckland

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The ultimate motor home... "Hut on sleds" designed by CCC Architects is a small, simple, functional - and completely moveable 40 square meter hut. It rests on two thick wooden sleds that allow the home to be shifted around its beach-front location: A clever response to the ever changing landscape in this coastal erosion zone.

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Kitsets are given a bad rap (mostly warranted) but this small yet perfectly formed flat-packed home could change that.

It’s the brainchild of Swedish architect Jonas Wagell, who saw changes in building regulations as an opportunity to create a new home design. His prefabricated modular home, known as the Mini House, is 15m2 and comes with an outdoor terrace-cum-pergola of the same size. “The concept was developed as a response to new Swedish regulations allowing house owners to build a 15m2 house without a building permit,” explains Wagell. “Also the pergola is constructed with an airflow of 50 per cent, which makes it building permit free as well.”

Included in the Mini House are the walls, framing, roofing, trim-less windows, and an insulating polystyrene core clad with plywood or plastic laminate. The whole shebang comes flat-packed and can be put up in just two days, which makes it amazingly more efficient to build than a regular dwelling. No surprise, then, that the design has been incredibly popular with Swedes, who tend to put them up as summer houses.

To keep up with demand, Wagell is now collaborating with another Swedish studio, Sommarnöjen, on newer, bigger versions. The Mini House 2.0, which can be made as big as 70m2, will soon be for sale in Scandinavia. Next year, the houses will be for sale in Western Europe. But will they ever be available to Kiwis?” We will start to deliver to Scandinavia,” says Wagell, who has been overwhelmed by the response, “and then gradually expand from there!”.

First ehouse in Waterview Auckland

#1 time-lapse of construction progress

Foundation walls and Slab pour

Simplistic geometrical forms create contemporary public and privates spaces that are spatially defined. A traditional structure allows flexibility and adaptability.

Vibrant environments that encourage communication and nurtures family well being by providing resilient forms that reflect strength and longevity.

A creatively authentic and inspiring building that is truly smarter...

ehouse™ is all about sustainable, eco design that doesn't sacrifice creature comforts or good looks to save the earth. 

That's the point of good design -- it finds the optimum balance between comfort, efficiency and elegant construction to create a home that is more comfortable, more efficient, better on the environment and still looks beautiful.