Abdallah House - Redesigning a Home

Principle 6: Produce no waste Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate The bathroom design works in conjunction with a greenhouse. The greenhouse, kitchen and bathroom are linked together, allowing for heat exchange. There was some deliberation about whether or not the bathroom should remain open to the greenhouse. It was felt that the greenhouse would make the bathroom uncomfortable during the summer if it couldn't be separated, but it would be good to open it up during the colder months. A louvre window in the kitchen can be opened up when extra warmpth is required in the main living space. A separate toilet room has been built next to the bathroom. The toilet has been plumbed for a conventional flush system (with black water bypassing the greywater system), but it's placement allows for an enhanced composting system (warmer space to assist in decomposition) or good access for a simple collection device for a composting system, like the loveable loo . The door, floo

Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and services   Red Gum that was felled, milled and dried on the house site for use as decking - amongst other things Our original plan with the rear decking was to attach it to the slab of the house. Chris (from Chris's Timber ) convinced me that it would be better to set the decking up independantly from the house, on stumps, because it would be so heavy. I decided to coat the bearers and joists with raw linseed oil to help preserve them, and cover the bearers with recycled iron, and joists with rubber to resist rot. The Red Gum boards that were milled up on the site spent a bit over a year drying before being taken around to Chris's Timber for thicknessing. All of the shavings were collected to be used at the house site. There were just enough of the right sized boards for the job, quite a bit or work was required to fill the gaps with resin and straighten them up again. Brian suggested that the boards be painted on both t