Magpie House

Mark Lavis and his partner Hannah Lord’s typical ‘ex-govie’ home in the Canberra suburb of Watson wasn’t serving their family well anymore. The old house was poorly orientated, sparingly insulated and rundown, but they loved the area and wanted to stay. With the assistance of Mark’s sister, architect Claire Lavis from Paper Seven Architecture, they designed a modest 161-square-metre three-bedroom new home for their block, and went about constructing it as owner-builders. “The existing house on the site was slowly dismantled rather than demolished, and valuable, recyclable materials were diverted from landfill,” says Mark. “We’ve used them for joinery, furniture and architectural detailing in the new build.” With passive solar design firmly in mind, the 8.2-Star, all-electric new home has its living areas and bedrooms placed to take advantage of…

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Sanctuary: Modern Green Homes (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 70

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