All truly great homes grow from a seamless time carer in the future, or be integrated with the FOR MANY HIA and respectful process of collaboration, main house for resale. An indoor hydrotherapy pool JUDGES, IT WAS THE in which the architect and builder take the is contained within a separate wing. FIRST TIME THEY’D time to understand what their client wants When the design was presented to Pichelmann and needs from their new home; then work together Custom Building Services it came with an additional OBSERVED A LUXURY to ensure the finished project encapsulates this request. HOME BUILT WITH FULL vision, both aesthetically and functionally. ‘The client told us that he had been investigating ACCESSIBILITY IN MIND This Canberra home, designed by DNA Architects Passivhaus technology and asked whether we and built by Pichelmann Custom Building Services, could do that to the existing plans,’ explains (both long-term HIA members) is one such project. director Parry Pichelmann. Despite never having The client is very happy in his new home, and built a Passivhaus home before, Parry says he the home took out the award for the 2018 HIA ‘loved the idea’. Australian Specialised Housing project. Passivhaus construction utilises a highly insulated, The owner, who suffers from a hereditary air-tight building envelope sealed with special degenerative disease, spent eight years researching membranes to maintain a steady internal temperature. and planning a high-performance, energy-efficient It’s a highly technical way to build, and for the ‘forever’ home – one that can support his health Pichelmann team, the challenge lay in getting a now, and will remain comfortable and fully standard design to meet the stringent specifications. accessible should he require a wheelchair at some ‘We set about getting ourselves educated, stage in the future. working with [Passivhaus consultants] Laros DNA Architects honed the owner’s ideas into a Technologies … then we set about making the beautiful and highly flexible single-level layout. Themembranes work with the Australian building home comprises a two-bedroom house and a fully design. There was lots of thinking outside the box self-contained two-bedroom unit, interconnected to get that to function.’ via an internal, two-way locking door. While The interiors were thoughtfully crafted to adapt currently set up as two separate dwellings, the unit to the owner’s changing circumstances, without can provide connected accommodation for a full- compromising the home’s considerable aesthetic the layout allows for wheelchair circulation THE HOME COMPRISES A TWO-BEDROOM HOUSE AND A FULLY SELF-CONTAINED TWO-BEDROOM UNIT SEPTEMBER 2018 HOUSING 59