SCHOOL ZONES:
Murrays Bay Primary, Murrays Bay Intermediate, Rangitoto College.
CONTACT:
Tara Menzies or Ritesh Chambyal, Bayleys, Tara 021 720 307 or Ritesh 021 164 0619.
Mark Watt and Roger Buck like their homes to do all the work when it comes to home heating. They are proponents of passive solar design and they have each come to this heart-warming concept from slightly different professional perspectives.
Mark's background as an electrical engineer includes experience in solar-powered electronics and Roger's architectural practice in Christchurch is underpinned by his well-known, long-standing commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency in bespoke house design.
"I like to keep it simple," says Roger. "If the sun comes in the windows and heats the house up then it is doing the work all on its own. That's what we call 'passive solar'. We all need windows and walls and if the windows are facing the right way and you've got the right internal layout to let the air move through then you don't need pumps and fans and intricate, active devices at all. It is doing the work passively."
Add solid, reinforced, insulated concrete into the specifications and you have, says Roger "a home where the absorption properties of concrete and its ability to radiate that heat keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter".
Mark and Lois Watt have achieved all that in this solid masonry house that Roger designed for them in 1998, in accordance with the principles of passive solar design. It was a concept the men had a shared interest in during the 1980s when their young sons used to play at the Buck family's similarly designed home in Christchurch.
Their collaboration here has created a three-storey home with living and entertaining areas on the top floor, two bedrooms and more living on the mid-level entry floor and three bedrooms, a study, wine cellar and laundry on the bottom level.
Image 1 of 8: Architecturally designed curvaceous beauty follows the principles of passive solar design -- windows that encourage the sun to shine in and insulated concrete -- to survive the brutal winter and humid summer
Its curvaceous form is a reflection of what Roger calls the "fluid" shapes of the natural environment. Likewise the 900mm wide concrete culvert that is the central, vertical form around which the circular stairs unfold.
Behind a ground floor cupboard door is an intriguing snapshot of the unadorned culvert, the timber boxing beneath the concrete stairs and the adjoining concrete wall.
It took hundreds of cubic metres of concrete to create this house, from its pre-stressed concrete floor pad to its pre-stressed concrete and bitumen membrane roof. The 150mm thick poured concrete interior and exterior walls have 50mm of insulation on both sides. Of their choice of elementary materials, Mark says: "It goes back to the time of the Romans; they invented concrete and used culverts."
Elsewhere the curved, faceted windows are a key factor in the minimal amount of extra heating required in winter.
"The tiled floors warm up with the sun and store the heat. If you didn't draw the curtains or if you had several cold days in a row then the temperature would drop but it's generally a consistent 23 or 24 degrees in here in winter.
"In the heat of summer it is cool and comfortable inside," says Mark.
The outdoors connection includes the 200mm thick concrete patio and the landscaped tiered garden. As a family home, the separate spaces for adults and children has added to its functional appeal too when the Watt family lived here from 2000 until 2008.
Following a move to the Middle East they shifted to Australia, returning here two months ago to oversee a renovation of this home ahead of its sale and their move to Nelson.
Their attention to the detail here has included a new kitchen, bathrooms and a repaint.
