Location / Hanmer Springs

Architecture / VILA.nz

Building / Baumann Builders

Structural Engineering / CGW

Status / final building stage

Floor area / 99m² + First floor (approx 40m2)

• SIP walls and roof / Formance

• All steel members on the inside of thermal envelope / no thermal bridging

• Fully insulated floating concrete floor on top of Cupolex foundation

• Tripple glazed PVC+Alu windows / Weathershield windows

  
  

• In-slab hydranic heating + heatpump hot water / Warmth.nz

• Heat Recovery Ventilation / Lunos

• Vertical Timber Cladding / Abodo

• Clever use of space, smaller footprint

• Solar orientation (passive solar and shading)

• Pre-wired for PV panels

This rather special project started on a beautiful but complex site in Hanmer. The inviting platform on top has proven to be unstable for building. Inviting track down through some established gardens and start of walking track at the bottom in the valley, where of significant value. So complex idea of stabilising the top building platform came with some clever structural and geotechnical engineering and a massive retaining wall.

From this point on all attention was on to common passion for sustainability and energy efficiency shared betweent the client and architect. Creating rather modest and simple form, with a touch of modern take on Alpine architecture to complement strickt design guidelines for the Old Town of Hanmer, and despite strong link to the views on the east side, still encompasing all too important passive solar design principals, as much as possible.

Many complex inovative details like recessing the windows, sepparating substructure and envelope, full services cavity for heat recovery ventilation, floating insulated concrete floor and many more... made this project ground breaking and in many ways a first in NZ.