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In early 2021, we were invited to be part of Renovate or Rebuild, a new TV show by Channel 9 that’s on a mission to make sustainable housing the new norm.
Breathe’s Director of Housing, Madeline Sewall was invited to episode five to help Matt and Lynelle and their boys decide whether to renovate or rebuild their family home in Cowes, Philip Island, VIC.
There is a lot to weigh up in choosing to renovate a house or build from scratch. The renovate option reduces the embodied energy of a building by extending its life. This can often be the more cost effective option. Building from scratch provides a clean slate for designing a house with energy efficiency at the core but can also be the more expensive way to go.
In the episode, the renovate option we designed with Jesse and Mel from The Block saw us take a challenging existing floor plan and use relatively simple upgrades to immensely improve what the home already had to offer, including: raising the roof to maximise northern daylight, incorporating and repurposing existing materials with thermal mass, removing gas, and keeping and improving upon the existing landscape, which had great sentimental value to the family. The result was a much more efficient home with a NatHERS rating of 7.3 stars.
The rebuild option designed with The Block’s Bec and George, allowed us to start fresh and improve the interior and exterior layout of the home, bringing the outside in by incorporating an internal courtyard, privatising the daytime and nighttime zones to assist heating and cooling, and removing gas. The design includes thoughtful consideration of the home's orientation and resulted in an impressive 7.6 star rating.
We won’t give a spoiler and tell you who the winner was, you’ll have to watch the episode yourself.
Big thanks to 9 Life and North Light Productions for inviting us to be part of this show, and to Matt and Lynelle for generously opening their home to us.
We acknowledge the Bunurong/Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Matt and Lynelle’s home stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
In early 2021, we were invited to be part of Renovate or Rebuild, a new TV show by Channel 9 that’s on a mission to make sustainable housing the new norm.
Breathe’s Director of Housing, Madeline Sewall was invited to episode five to help Matt and Lynelle and their boys decide whether to renovate or rebuild their family home in Cowes, Philip Island, VIC.
There is a lot to weigh up in choosing to renovate a house or build from scratch. The renovate option reduces the embodied energy of a building by extending its life. This can often be the more cost effective option. Building from scratch provides a clean slate for designing a house with energy efficiency at the core but can also be the more expensive way to go.
In the episode, the renovate option we designed with Jesse and Mel from The Block saw us take a challenging existing floor plan and use relatively simple upgrades to immensely improve what the home already had to offer, including: raising the roof to maximise northern daylight, incorporating and repurposing existing materials with thermal mass, removing gas, and keeping and improving upon the existing landscape, which had great sentimental value to the family. The result was a much more efficient home with a NatHERS rating of 7.3 stars.
The rebuild option designed with The Block’s Bec and George, allowed us to start fresh and improve the interior and exterior layout of the home, bringing the outside in by incorporating an internal courtyard, privatising the daytime and nighttime zones to assist heating and cooling, and removing gas. The design includes thoughtful consideration of the home's orientation and resulted in an impressive 7.6 star rating.
We won’t give a spoiler and tell you who the winner was, you’ll have to watch the episode yourself.
Big thanks to 9 Life and North Light Productions for inviting us to be part of this show, and to Matt and Lynelle for generously opening their home to us.
We acknowledge the Bunurong/Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Matt and Lynelle’s home stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Breathe acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Breathe stands. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.
