Kaleidoscope House promotes a more future-sustainable way of life for families and communities. The house’s floorplan works within an average rectangular plot size of 8 metres by 22 metres, with back to back distances of 18 metres between dwellings. The plan’s L-shape maximizes light from the south and provides a security barrier.

The design takes a ‘ lean-to’ approach, giving the house a two-storey low point to the urban street and a three-storey high point to the rear/south. The house is built from a set of off-site manufactured components and can be enlarged in two phases. The house is constructed from 100% renewable materials, using timber frame and locally sourced straw bales which are stacked to form a wall, compressed and pinned together for stability to three storeys in height.

Features of the Lifetime Homes compliant design include:

• A central core filled with natural light to all primary circulation areas.
• All rooms feeding off the middle zone central core.
• Services and service core merged as one entity.
• Increased occupant visibility onto most rooms from the middle zone.
• Amenity areas to all floors with front to back street visibility to minimise crime.
• Open plan kitchen, dining and living room on the ground floor with a south facing aspect.
• Main living areas merge into the outside landscape as a level floor surface between inside floor area and outside timber deck.
• South facing bedrooms and louvred climbing evergreens to north facing
• bedrooms.
• Ground floor bedroom and WC.
• Side entrance front door to encourage neighbourly conversation and interaction.

Green energy
The design achieves a minimum of level 4 under the Code for Sustainable Homes and level 5 could be attainable. Key energy saving features are: orientation to maximize solar gain, internal planning, a central sun space and significant increase in U-values. Double volumes over living areas are avoided so the building has a low surface/volume ratio to be heated or cooled down. This in turn requires less energy. Small windows to the north and a timber pergola with climbing plants cool the north facade in summer.

The middle zone of the house is designed to admit as much natural light as possible to the central area as possible to avoid the normal “lights on” approach of winter days.

Its south facade captures solar gain and when the temperature is above that of the middle zone, glazed vents or doors open automatically to let through the warmer air or improve ventilation. The house draws its energy from eight thermo dynamic panels

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