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The Challenge
Australia has some of the harshest weather conditions and our houses need to offer protection from extreme elements. In Queensland, it’s mostly about keeping cool.
This was the key challenge for architect Paul Butterworth when designing two beach houses on a large, sloping block located on North Stradbroke Island in Queensland.
Paul’s brief was to maintain the nostalgic look and feel of the traditional Australian Fibro ‘beach shack’ while bringing the homes into the modern world with comfort, updated amenities, and energy efficiency.
Beach houses often serve two purposes: as a couples or retirement retreat, or for large family gatherings or holiday rentals. The home design and materials needed to achieve both outcomes, with the right combination of windows and doors and use of internal / external spaces that ‘work’ in both modes.
Additionally, with the houses located on an island that is only accessible by barge, a lightweight, easily transported product that also saved on construction time was required.
Bondor’s SolarSpan® all-in-one insulated panel, consisting of the roof, insulation, and ceiling in a single panel, provided a cost-effective and thermally superior solution.
Photos: Christopher Frederick Jones
The Solution
Paul worked hard to design both homes as passive houses, eliminating the need for air conditioning with high ceilings, and big windows and doors, which could be opened to generate airflow by taking advantage of the prevailing south-easterly sea breeze.
“Whether you have the sea breeze or not the Queensland sun is hot,” Paul said.
“One of the materials we used in these houses was SolarSpan® roofing panels, with all-in-one insulation, ceiling lining structure and roof cladding, to achieve the passive house outcome.
“SolarSpan® has long spans that require minimal structural beams for support, which meant we could achieve these high ceilings without the need for additional roofing trusses.
“The high ceilings with ceiling fans and high windows create cross flow ventilation keeping the houses cool, even on the hottest summer days.”
Paul said time and cost were also a factor for the build’s island location.
“Being on North Stradbroke Island everything had to come across by barge, so we needed a product we could easily transport and save us time during construction.
“SolarSpan® was the right choice for this environment because it’s lightweight and so easy to install.
“It also comes in a range of ceiling profiles, so we were able to include a VJ finish to the ceiling of the second home which added another texture to the build,” he said.
SolarSpan® is Australia’s leading insulated roofing panel offering long-spans, low pitch, and high thermal efficiency to satisfy Section J requirements. CodeMark-approved and Australian Standards tested, SolarSpan® features a COLORBOND® steel exterior roof, and EPS-FR rigid insulation core with a pre-finished COLORBOND® ceiling underside in a variety of profiles and colours to maximise creative expression.
