Little Loft House
Location | Giralang, ACT Completed | May 2020
EER | 7.7 stars (started at 3.8 stars)
60% reduction in predicted heating/cooling energy requirements
Area | 136 square metres (13 square metres added)
Builder | Indepth Building Solutions Images | Ben Wrigley - November 2020
Awards | 2021 ACT Institute of Architects: Derek Wrigley Award for Sustainable Architecture
2021 ACT Institute of Architects: Gene Willsford Award for Residential Architecture (Alterations & Additions)
2021 Architecture & Design Sustainability Awards: Single Dwelling (Alts/Adds) - Highly Commended
Canberra Low Carbon Housing Challenge: Alteration & Additions category - Second Prize
Webinar | 2021 Sustainable House Day Expert webinar about going all-electric
Media | The Guardian - Australia’s best sustainable architecture for 2021 – in pictures
All Homes - Little Loft House: A look inside a Giralang extension project
The Guardian - Thermal mix: a modest Canberra renovation holds and traps the sun
Sanctuary Magazine - Surprise package - Renew
Featured | Sustainable House Day - Little Loft House: a Light House
Canberra Low Carbon Housing Challenge 2021 | See poster here (scan QR card on poster for more!)
The owners were keen to breathe new life into a small home that many would consider ripe for a ‘knock-down/rebuild’. The result is a joyous, comfortable, energy and space efficient, multi-functional home.
The home achieved an EER of 7.7 stars during design. In practice, it performs even better, consuming just 20% of the total energy of a typical Canberra family home!
The existing footprint was extended by only 13m2 to create a comfortable, functional new home of just 136m2. The existing external walls were largely maintained as were some internal walls. The home includes recycled timber benchtops, salvaged bricks and pavers and new materials were chosen for their durability and thermal properties, to allow for a lighter footprint over a longer lifetime. The home is now all-electric (ditching gas cooking, heating and hot water), collects rainwater for the toilets, laundry and garden, and has efficient LED lighting throughout.
Read more about the sustainability and energy efficiency features of this reno on our Case Studies page.