Gabrielle’s home

BluKube Architecture

Located in Northern New South Wales near the Richmond River in Ballina, a certified ‘classic’ passive house home has been built. This sub-tropical location, together with the site environs, aspect and typology fused together with a detailed client’s brief and contributed to the final home design. As the client placed accessibility as a high priority, spaces and ideas developed into functional elements that have proven to work well post construction.

The site’s characteristics are defined as an irregular heptagon (boot shaped) appearance entering off a cul-de-sac with a stormwater bio-retention cell in a flood zone that could not be built over or altered.

The building is of timber construction and boldly finished externally. The interior is lowkey and has a more relaxed atmosphere, this home caters to the requirements of a client who likes to entertain and have guests stay.

The bulk insulated timber framed dwelling is the first residential building in Australia to be fully built with structural OSB-3 covered with an adhesive water-resistant air tight barrier, followed by continuous wood fiber insulation. A ventilated cavity exists around the whole building cladding (walls and roofing) which enables the building to use convection to keep the cavity dry.

The home has recently been La Niña stress tested due to the flooding in West Ballina, surviving any negative impacts to the dwelling from flood waters.

Photography by Dallas Nock