Oh how we love living in Brisbane!
Look at what some out our Northern hemisphere neighbors get to wake up to…
Everyone who lives in the above climate prepares for it – gloves, scarves, scraper thingies for the windshield and the very important heated car seats. The houses don’t have a focus on airflow, windows are almost always double glazed and closed most of the year with insulation and heating taking priority on the list of ‘important new house features’. Clearly Brisbane is pretty much the opposite but it’s very common to see houses dropped onto blocks of land without any thought or consideration to our climate. At Manasons, airflow definitely sits as an absolute top priority. The first thing we think about when creating a home is designing a space that maximizing breezes and airflow throughout the home. Not to intentionally criticise the ‘project builder’ approach as we understand their model is based on volume and repetition but we just don’t understand how you can pick a plan and plop it onto a site without considering the aspect of the property and the daily livability that is achieved through intelligent room placement and airflow considerations. To us, the house should be planned to suit the block – the family home is a massive investment but somehow our building industry is inundated with ‘cookie cutter’ plans that give no consideration to the details of the land.
At Manasons, when creating spaces we strategically place windows on opposite walls of the house for cross ventilation. We are also careful not to create ‘hot pockets’ by ensuring we have sufficient window placement in the correct areas throughout the house and avoid excessive fixed glass. Fixed glass can look pretty but it can also be inefficient when placed on the wrong wall. The results of clever ventilation planning are very inexpensive and will save you money on air con and provide a more comfortable home that allows you to literally breathe in this gorgeous part of the world. Brisbane certification rules require minimum energy efficiency standards which can be achieved with cross ventilation, aspect positioning, insulation (and other factors) but the benefits of good airflow will stretch far beyond the certification requirements by giving your oasis a livability that can’t be measured with a star rating.