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The 20/20 House
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality.
The 20/20 House part 18 – Getting A Building Permit
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. Getting A Building Permit I thought it was time for a little update from us. As usual, things are going slower than we were hoping. I guess that is the price you...
How much does it cost to build a passive house?
This is a question I do get asked a lot. Sadly, there is no simple or straight forward answer to it. And no matter who you ask you will get a very different response. Does it cost more than building a normal home? Again, not an easy answer. Does it cost more than a...
The 20/20 House part 17 – Working on the finer detail
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. It seems like time is just running away from us. According to our original plan we would have started construction already a few months ago. But given how busy we...
The 20/20 House Part 16 – No planning permit
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. No Planning Permit needed? Oh wow, it’s been over 8 months since I’ve written an update on our own passive house. Life has been rather crazy and busy. Working on...
The 20/20 House Part 15 – Other Little Challenges
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. Other Little Challenges It has almost been 3 months since I last posted an update on our own passive house and lots of people have been asking me what’s going...
The 20/20 House part 14 – Landscape Design
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. When designing and building your home the landscape design and the garden is often the last thing on the list and more often than not there isn’t much money...
The 20/20 House Part 13 – Designing the Kitchen
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream energy efficient home into a reality. In the last blog I wrote about the catch up I had with our builder and how it got us thinking. Originally, I was always imagining a home with a nice polished concrete...
The 20/20 House Part 12 – Getting The Design Right
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. Over the last couple of months, we kept fine-tuning the design for our own house. Typically, all my ‘actual’ projects are a priority, so I only ever work on the...
The 20/20 House Part 11 – Locating Services
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream for an energy efficient home into a reality. In November I spent 2 weeks doing some further professional development and did the PassivHaus/ Passive House Designer course. Although a lot of the principles...
The 20/20 House: Cost Saving Ideas – Windows
The Gruen Eco Design blog about how to convert your dream from an energy efficient home into a reality. Windows are essential for a house and the comfort and well-being of its habitants, as they let natural light and fresh air into the building and enable views....
Sustainable Design blog
Have a read through our latest blogs about sustainable design & everything passive house
Meet Dee, Certified Passive House Designer
Meet DeepanjaliCertified Passive House DesignerMaster of Science in Energy Efficient & Sustainable Buildings Dee commenced her career by Completing a Bachelor degree in Architecture and worked with sustainability focused design firms in...
Meet Ross, Revit Draftsperson
Meet RossRevit Draftsperson After finishing his Bachelor of Environments at Melbourne Uni he went on to work for a volume builder and for a firm specialising in educational buildings before joining our team. His move to Gruen Eco Design has allowed him to...
Meet Bevan, Building Designer
Meet BevanBuilding Designer After completing the Advanced Diploma in Building Design (Architectural), Bevan has worked exclusively for boutique design firms where he has acquired an exceptional understanding of town planning and construction processes. Detail...
Meet Lucy – Senior Designer, Sydney Office
We are very excited to now expand to NSW and welcome Lucy to our new SYDNEY OFFICE It's been a dream for us here at Gruen Eco Design for a while now to have a local presence in Sydney. Hence we are very delighted to introduce you to our latest...
UNDERSTANDING PASSIVE HOUSE CALCULATION TOOLS – Part 3
Passive House principles Most of you might already be aware of the Passive House Principles but for a quick recap: Understanding the Passive House Principles Passive House follows FABRIC FIRST DESIGN APPROACH. 1 A continuous Building Envelope without any gaps The...
UNDERSTANDING PASSIVE HOUSE CALCULATION TOOLS – Part 2
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PERFORM CALCULATIONS AT AN EARLY DESIGN STAGE? EVEN FOR SOLAR PASSIVE DESIGN OR LOW ENERGY HOMES? We recommend having preliminary calculations done through the early design stage. To make a first assessment of the energy performance at...
UNDERSTANDING PASSIVE HOUSE CALCULATION TOOLS – Part 1
The passive house calculation is one of the most accurate ways of calculating energy efficiency. The tools used are PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) and Design PH. This allows the user to make informed energy efficiency decisions. Which enable us to choose the...
Meet Mellissa – our senior passive house designer
Meet MelissaSenior DesignerCertified Passive House Designer After receiving her Bachelor of Architecture, Mellissa has spent the last 16 years working for various firms across Queensland and Victoria and we are now fortunate to have Mellissa, and the wealth of...
WANTED: Creative Interior Designer/ Draftsperson To Help Us Design Beautiful Energy Efficient And Sustainable Homes For Future Generations
WANTED: Creative Interior Designer/ Draftsperson To Help Us Design Beautiful Energy Efficient And Sustainable Homes For Future Generations Part-time Are you passionate about energy efficient, sustainable and healthy homes? Does the sound of selecting non tox...
2020: That’s a Wrap
OMG. What a year it has been. I still remember the quarterly planning session with our business coach and mentor in January. All the big hopes and dreams we had for the year and the start of this decade. And then Covid came…. I was just checking the numbers. Here in...