The original brief for the project was for a new 3-bedroom certified passive house with a additional secondary 2-bedroom high-performance detached dwelling.

Architype responded by proposing two, double story buildings placed back-to-back along the north-south axis of the site. This arrangement allowed both homes to orient their outdoor living space to the north and maximised shared walls to drastically reduce heat loss. This decision also greatly reduced the extent of external cladding of each home.

With these cost savings the brief for the secondary dwelling was able to be increased in size and performance to match that of the primary dwelling further maximising the efficiency of the design.

The surrounding neighbourhood is characterised by single family dwellings, so the intention was to create a design that was low scale and sympathetic to this area. As the area continues to densify in the future both duplexes have been designed to be easily accommodate an additional gable volume on the upper level which could contain a number of extra spaces.

 A key requirement of the brief was low maintenance. The lower level of the building is clad in white brick with generous eaves to create shelter for the entrance on the south and summer shading for the main windows on the north. The upper level is clad in low maintenance colorsteel tray cladding. Careful attention had also been paid to summer shading of the upper levels with sliding shutters on the east and west and aluminum shrouds designed for the north facing main bedroom windows.

The building is constructed on a fully insulated concrete slab. The walls and roof are timber framed insulated with fiberglass batts. Walls are constructed without nogs and with internal ply as the airtightness/bracing layer. The windows are triple glazed with spruce frames and aluminum shielding to the exterior. Both homes feature a balanced heat recovery ventilation systems and air sourced hot water heat pumps. The roofs accommodate extensive PV arrays which feed battery storage in the garages.

The project is targeting Passive House Plus certification