Product


LowE Plus with Clear for highest clarity and visible light transmittance – while also excellent Insulation performance (low U-Value).

Specification

  • Outer: 6mm Clear Toughened
  • Spacer: 12mm Warm Edge + Argon Gas
  • Inner: 6mm LowE Plus Toughened

 

Site Address

Yackandandah, VIC 3749

Fabricator

Binq Windows

Builder

Sheringham Constructions

Architect

Archier

Photos courtesy of

Rory Gardiner

 

 

 

Challenge

Building a new home next to an 1864 courthouse in a highly-preserved historic gold mining town in northeast Victoria naturally attracted keen civic attention.

Add to that the clients’ desire for a home with thermal integrity that was open to the surrounding landscape with a garden focus. The home also needed to provide privacy on a steep site with multiple public aspects and a restricted building envelope.

Furthermore, architect Chris Gilbert of Archier had to account for the local climate – cool, damp winters and very warm to hot dry summers.

Specifying advanced high performance glazing was required to facilitate a design to satisfy all stakeholders and meet site and climate challenges.

Architect Chris Gilbert had grown up in the local area and understood the importance of respecting the civic focus on preservation by emphasising craft, longevity, and local materials.

“We needed to design a contemporary home with heritage in its heart.”

 

Solution

Gilbert says the site’s multiple public aspects meant it made sense to create a private external space. However, with plenty of north-facing windows the home design also needed a high-performance thermal solution.

The resulting plan was a single-level design twisting around an internal courtyard which helps to define communal and personal spaces.  The personal spaces are on the private side of the house, facing away from the street, whilst the communal areas are on the public side.

“It’s both simple and rational and addressed the site conditions with a clear plan,” Gilbert says.

The public part of the house with open plan kitchen, dining and living, reflects its social location, with floor-to-ceiling Binq windows open to the external landscape. Whereas, the private side of the house, with four bedrooms, looks onto the internal courtyard.

The house follows Passivhaus principles prioritising highly insulated, highly sealed buildings that minimise energy consumption. Gilbert specified Insulglass LowE Plus Clear IGU’s for the Binq window systems to maximise transmission of winter sunlight into living spaces and insulation of warm air in winter and cool air in summer.

“The performance of Insulglass LowE Plus® glazing meant we could bring nature right into the home without sacrificing the comfort or cost of its internal environment.”

Highly Commended:                   National Residential Project Under $80K/ AGWA Design Awards 2024
Highly Commended:                   VIC Residential Project Under $80K/ AGWA Design Awards 2024

Commendation:                           New House Over 200m2 – Houses Awards
Shortlisted:                                    Sustainability – Houses Awards

For more information on Insulglass LowE Plus®, click below:

 

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