Project Overview

My Ideal House has been designed to meet the changing needs of a modern family, embracing sustainability, flexibility and liveability at an affordable price point.
Though it occupies a modest footprint on a 416sqm allotment, the home has been future-proofed with the inclusion of a delightful multi-purpose room that can see a family through many life phases, including a multi-generational household.
The modular design allows the home’s layout to be easily adapted to different orientations so that living areas enjoy generous exposure to northern sunlight, irrespective of lot orientation.
It is a home designed to promote health and happiness, encouraging an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, easy interaction between its occupants and an openness to the wider community. It is polite towards its neighbours, the single storey rear living pavilion respectful of privacy and avoiding overshadowing.
A solar passive home, additional sustainability measures include solar roof panels and battery storage, LED lighting, double-glazed windows and sustainably sourced materials.
My Ideal House was designed for the project home buyer market and built at Mirvac’s CREST masterplanned community in the fast-growing suburb of Gledswood Hills in Sydney’s south-west. Its overwhelming intent was to present the benefits of good design over size to a house-proud but price sensitive market.

Organisation

Mirvac Design

 

Team

Design Director: Andrew La
Senior Associate Interiors: Anita Tyler
Associate / Project Architect: Tanja Hodgson
Draftsperson: Joe Amato

Project Brief

In 2016 Mirvac and Australian House & Garden magazine launched a competition to design the ideal family home, one that responded to the challenges of modern life delivering sustainability, flexibility and liveability at an affordable price point to promote a better way of living.

Central to the design philosophy was the need for a flexible home to accommodate the multigenerational makeup of an increasing number of Australian households, with children staying at home longer and grandparents often living with the family. Flexibility was also integral to delivering sustainability outcomes, future-proofing the home for the different needs of future occupants, without requiring additional resources to rebuild.

The winning design should also promote health and happiness enabling easy interaction between the occupants and an openness towards the broader community.

The My Ideal House competition was won by Madeleine Blanchfield who collaborated with Mirvac Design to refine the planning, enhancing sustainability and buildability. It was built by Mirvac at Crest, a 600-lot master-planned community at Gledswood Hills in south-west Sydney, where much of the city’s new housing growth is located.

Project Innovation/Need

The winning design, by Sydney architect Madeleine Blanchfield (design development and documentation by Mirvac Design), has been designed to meet the changing needs of a modern family, embracing sustainability, flexibility and liveability. Occupying a modest footprint on a 416sqm allotment, the home has been future-proofed to accommodate multi-generational living and reduce whole of life costs through a range of sustainability inclusions.

The design encourages a healthy indoor-outdoor lifestyle with a north-facing wall of sliding glass doors running the length of the northern facing living space allowing easy interaction for a typical family scenario – a parent preparing dinner with children playing outdoors on the lawn within sight and sound.

The multi-purpose front room leading to the rear garden permits a sense of openness with the community, its comfortable cedar-framed window seat looking out to the street. This room, also open to the rear garden, serves a number of functions, as a second living area, home office, guest accommodation or adapted into two separate rooms.

The modular design allows the home to be easily adapted to different sites so that living areas enjoy generous exposure to northern sunlight. Living and sleeping pavilions are treated as separate interchangeable modules. Living areas in the rear pavilion run the length of the site exposing a greater area to northern sunlight, while the al fresco area facing west is shaded by large overhangs and retractable blinds. The passive design initiatives incorporated into the home is significant as air-conditioning is not required.

Design Challenge

With shrinking lot sizes, the rise in multigenerational households, changing work patterns and lifestyles, affordability and sustainability all concerns, the time was right for a new approach to housing design.
The challenge was to create a home that met the needs of its occupants throughout multiple life stages, preferring good design (that can be adjusted to suit changing family needs) over size, while also creating connections to the broader community.

My Ideal House is not a large home, offering 230sqm of living area on a 416sqm block of land. It is an intelligent response to diminishing lot sizes, providing three bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, double garage, ample indoor living space and functional outdoor space for both adults and children, with the added benefit of a flexible multi-purpose room.
This flexible room can serve as second living space, a home office, guest accommodation or reconfigured to form two rooms, to become a three, four or five bedroom home. These options have been incorporated into the Homes by Mirvac Landon Series of homes, based on the My Ideal House design.
My Ideal House does not rely on size to be magnificent, rather its charm lies wholly in a design that works with the environment rather than against it. It supports the wellbeing of its occupants and is polite towards its neighbours, the single storey rear living pavilion respectful of privacy and avoiding overshadowing.

Sustainability

My Ideal house has incorporated ‘one planet living’ and ‘CPTED’ principles into its design to promote sustainably healthy indoor and outdoor lifestyle.
The building’s form and planning responds to site conditions and local climate with the construction technique and materials selected for their thermal, acoustic and air tightness capabilities. Passive Solar design principles through northern orientation, correct sun-shading, cross ventilation and viewing and heat sinks have been incorporated.
For a contemporary design without eaves, windows have been pushed back to create sun shading, utilising this space with planter boxes, fitted with an automatic irrigation system. Large overhangs are utilised on north and western glazed facades with retractable blinds for outdoor alfresco spaces.
Hebel construction enhances thermal performance, produces 40% less greenhouse emissions and has 30% lower environmental impact compared to concrete or brick veneer construction.
High performance glazing was used, preventing up to 77% of heat transference in all seasons.
The steel roof having low thermal mass, pale colour with heat reflective capabilities and roof insulation ensures increased thermal performance. As a benefit to the community, it reduces ‘heat island’ effect on its neighbours.
Engineered timber floors and glosswood ceilings are sourced from sustainably managed forests, and contain natural properties protecting against termites.

Sustainability inclusions in the home reduce reliance on energy from the grid, generate renewable energy to reduce peak electricity loads and household power bills, with an approximate saving of $20,000 over 10 years in electrical bills due to the benefits of Solar PV and Hebel construction combined.