Moruya Two-storey Eco Home

This semi-rural project serves as a second home on an enviable site: an acreage with Moruya River frontage and expansive views. It was an affordable owner-builder project, an eco-home with an emphasis on solar-passive design, made somewhat tricky due to the view aspect. Upper-level living areas capitalise on these views and make use of the rising topography with large glazing opening to draw air through the dwelling, with the aid of smaller windows along the facing wall.

​

The three bedrooms downstairs all enjoy a similar outlook to the river and an easy connection to the acreage, reminiscent of shearers barracks opening to a timber veranda. Large decks on both levels are shaded by deep awnings to create outdoor living rooms, an element of the solar-passive design, created to catch any breath of river breeze while watching the sun set on a sultry Moruya evening, even in a rain-storm.

​

Both horizontal and vertical louvred shading elements have been designed to manage solar gains through this solar-passive home, excluding unwanted heat through warmer seasons and welcoming the sunshine in cooler months. Colorbond cladding was mainly used for this eco-home; it is durable, affordable, low-maintenance and 100% recyclable.

​

The owner-builders resided here while renovating the Moruya acreage’s main residence; they commented that it had the best thermal comfort of any home they’d ever lived in. Now used as a guest house, we wonder if the place is too liveable and the guests might never leave!