The Auckland Design Manual (ADM) is the council’s best practice design guide full of tips, inspiration and information for people who are designing, building or developing in Auckland. If you’re looking for great examples of home design, the ADM has an amazing library of case studies from Auckland and abroad.
Each month on Our Auckland we’ll showcase a case study from the ADM.
Zero Energy house – Point Chevalier, Auckland
The Zero Energy house is a two storey L-shaped building located in Point Chevalier, west of Auckland City. The building has been successfully positioned on the site and designed to maximize its orientation and zero energy potential, without compromising its duty to address the street frontage in a residential area.
It’s an excellent example of sustainable building design and has used best practice passive solar design, low impact storm water design, low energy use building systems and onsite energy generation to ensure a zero net energy use.
Key design features
The site was carefully considered and selected with the specific brief of building a case study zero energy home. Point Chevalier has excellent accessibility to the town centre amenities, public transport and cycling links, reserves, beaches and forests.
The site has a flat terrain and a northern aspect that’s allowed the house to use designed-in features, including a north-facing private outdoor space and vegetable garden.
This outdoor space is as an extension of the internal living areas which are positioned to the northern side of the house. One of the key aspects of the design process was to take an ‘integrated design process’ in which the engineers have been involved from the outset to enhance the design and zero energy qualities of the proposal.
The building itself is well integrated with its surrounding neighbourhood which comprises a mix of one and two storey dwellings.
For an in-depth look at the Zero Energy house click here.
