Armidale-based architect and environmental consultant Mahalath Halperin has been awarded first place in the 2018 Sustainability Awards.
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At a major event in Sydney last week, with more than 190 entries from around the nation, her recently completed house, Drumkerin, won the Single Dwelling (New) Award.
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The judges commented that the ‘humanity’ of the work tipped it over the edge, but also admired its passive solar design, energy efficiency, and the architect’s monitoring and evaluation of the completed house to validate its performance.
“This home is evidently a labour of love whereby any less thought, care and passion would not have resulted in the great outcomes achieved,” one judge said.
They were most impressed with its holistic approach to integrating building systems, rather than just individual ‘sustainable’ items and components.
“Ticking all the boxes in a sustainable building is – thankfully – increasingly common,” a judge said. “Buildings that are restorative, contributing to restoring a functioning environment, are rarer. Really uncommon are restorative buildings that are both funky, biophilic, and very human, and Drumkerin is all those things.”
Mahalath herself lives in the house. She saw downsizing as a chance to showcase an example of best practice in passive solar, energy efficient and sustainable house design.
"It’s not just about the house,” she said. “It’s also about the occupants, and our decision to take responsibility for our actions in choosing how we live, and what effect we personally have on the planet.
“After many years designing other people’s houses, here was the opportunity to design our own, and incorporate all those ‘green’ issues that clients so often forego in favour of other priorities, or are not brave enough to try. We incorporated our lifestyle choices as part of the process.”
For Mahalath, the house brought together years of ongoing research and experience.
The ‘experiment’ incorporated upcycled and recycled materials, innovative new products, and systems with low-tech solutions.
After 12 months of monitoring the house, Mahalath believes that the combination of these aspects have worked – with minimal running costs, and year-round comfort.
It is, she believes, simply a great place to live.
The Sustainability Awards are Australia’s longest running and most prestigious awards program dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating excellence in sustainable design and architecture.
Winning this award acknowledges that this project has achieved – and gone beyond – that level of excellence.
The awards night was preceded by the daytime event Sustainability Live, a CPD-endorsed education event where industry experts presented topics to educate, inform and ignite learning. Mahalath was a panellist for one of the conference sessions.