Rochedale, Brisbane

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Rochedale, Brisbane

The Challenges

When a Brisbane family of four wanted to get into the housing market, they found the only way to achieve the ‘Australian Dream’ was to build a small house adjoining their parents’ home on a rural property at Rochedale, on Brisbane’s outer southern suburbs.

BAAHOUSE Architecture Director Claus Ejlertsen was tasked with producing a unique home on an 80m² footprint that felt more like a traditional 200 m² Australian home for the family of two parents and two teenage boys.

BAAHOUSE are experts at producing small architecturally designed homes that are not only aesthetic but feel more spacious than the actual footprint. They follow the ethos that small does not need to be inferior, cramped, or impracticable.

Claus designed a home with high raked ceilings, large open and well-lit spaces that maximised the available floorspace without unnecessary hallways and corridors.

The Solution

Claus chose all-in-one SolarSpan^®Insulated Roofing Panel, combining a COLORBOND^® steel exterior roof layer, EPS-FR rigid insulation core with a pre-finished COLORBOND^® ceiling underside.

SolarSpan^®provided a solution that maximised internal ceiling heights, reduced installation time and costs and created a feeling of additional living space in the finished home.

“SolarSpan® roofing allows for long unsupported spans, meaning we could eliminate internal load bearing walls needed with a traditional build for a nice open finish inside,” Claus said.

“Having those high raked ceilings provides airflow and light and it makes a place feel a lot bigger than a traditional home with 2.4m flat ceilings.

“Because electricity is so expensive, we included highlight windows to really bring the natural light straight into this space and catch the morning sun.

“The design also brings in the northeast summer breezes through the house to maximise airflow. Combining that design with SolarSpan®’s excellent thermal insulation properties, we’re able to reduce the cooling costs for this home in the hottest summer months,” he said.

With affordability being a key factor for the design and build, SolarSpan® offered the perfect solution.

“With a traditional build this house would take a builder, roofer, plasterer and all those trades two weeks to install, while with SolarSpan® we were able to install the entire roof in a day without the need for beams, trusses, mesh, sarking, insulation, plasterboard or the need for multiple trades onsite,” Claus said.

“The long 18 metre spans meant we could install the roof from the deck all the way to the back of the home in a single panel. So, it is an amazing product to use.”