00:02What's unique about this project is that it's built around a 60-year-old pepper tree
00:07and it focuses its views up at Mount Kembla.
00:12This building is a 24-hour building. During the day it's Adam's office for his building company
00:18and at night it can be turned into a home to sleep in.
00:28I'm Alexander Symes of ASA and we advance sustainable architecture.
00:34I'm Adam Suter, director of SuterBuilt and the owner of Pepper Tree Passive House.
00:42Pepper Tree Passive House is located about an hour and a half south of Sydney
00:47near Wollongong in Unandara and we're in Darwin country.
00:55As a client my brief was pretty difficult. It had to be dual purpose.
00:59Everything had to be concealed really fast but also aesthetically pleasing.
01:05Critical to the brief was meeting the Passive House standard and that has five key criteria.
01:11One is really high performance insulation, really high performance glazing systems,
01:16low infiltration so the building isn't too leaky,
01:19a heat recovery ventilation system and thermal bridge-free construction.
01:26The first step was to connect the dwelling to the landscape.
01:31To counteract the slope we built the new secondary dwelling on the same level as the existing house
01:38and brought all the decks up to that same level so that the steepness of the site has been overcome.
01:44On the north side we have our kitchen living area and on the southern side we have our bedroom, laundry,
01:51bathroom.
01:52So as you enter the property there's concrete stepping stones.
01:57These were made with leftover concrete that we used during the pour.
02:00The next step is to connect the wall.
02:01At the end that's the start of the reclaimed timber stairs that go in between the original building and this
02:09new secondary building.
02:11And above you is these bifacial solar panels that shade out that summer sun coming into the highlight northern windows
02:17and generate electricity for the house.
02:21As you get to the top of the stairs you're welcomed by a triple glazed door that allows light to
02:26come through
02:27but also helps with the performance of the dwelling.
02:32As you enter the living space situated at the end of the wing there's joinery which is made up of
02:37paper rock,
02:38a cellular space material that's fully recyclable at the end of its life and that is also carried through to
02:44the kitchen.
02:44The surface is finished with a forest green laminate to bring a bit of the green from the pepper tree
02:51outside in.
02:55Hidden in some pocket doors is an office.
02:58Above the joinery in the living room all the way to the kitchen are narrow windows
03:04and these bring in light and direct solar radiation to the thermal battery.
03:11In the living area there's a custom day bed.
03:13It was made in house using leftover flooring from the build.
03:18It's got an integrated side piece that's cut on an angle that allows you to move through the living area
03:23freely.
03:25In the evening the trundle can be pulled out and it turns into a second bedroom.
03:32The kitchen sits on the other end of the wing.
03:35In the kitchen there's a large sink, an induction cooktop, a range hood hidden behind joinery, an integrated dishwasher, a
03:43combo microwave oven and a hidden fridge.
03:46Above the kitchen counter is a floating timber shelf with an LED light underneath which lights up the countertop and
03:54washes light all over the recycled convict brick splash back.
03:57As opposed to a round dining table, this angled breakfast bar is a much more spatially efficient use of a
04:06dining area.
04:11The bedroom is through a custom made OSB sliding door which seamlessly slides into a pocket in the wall.
04:20The bedside tables are integrated into the joinery to save space and they are floating shelves.
04:27The wardrobe joinery is a combination of storage for clothes but also it has another office hotspot with bifold pocket
04:37doors.
04:37All the handles are recycled eucalyptus black butt.
04:42The Murphy bed allows you to change the space from a bedroom into an office.
04:48So once you push it up there's actually a sacred drop-down desk underneath it.
04:55The laundry forms a tight hallway through to the bathroom.
04:59The large closet space besides the washing machine has storage for the household items and the heat recovery ventilation unit.
05:08The bathroom has large mirrors with helmet lighting above it which extend all the way through to the shower.
05:14We have a nice spacious shower with a rain head coming from the ceiling.
05:19All the tapware and fixtures in the bathroom are from Wood Melbourne.
05:27The central deck can be accessed either from the laundry or from the kitchen.
05:32It's built around an existing pepper tree.
05:35The exterior walls of the building are burnt shishiki barn cladding which is a Japanese treatment of burning and charring
05:44the timber.
05:45This makes it termite resistant and fire retardant.
05:49This project is a great example of having less and enjoying more.
05:56So build small, build a high performance and then we will have a robust and future-proofed building typology
06:04for our future climate.
06:05It is unpredictable.
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