About Green Building Design

Koru Green Building Design was created on the idea of humans’ living with nature, not against it.

We have tried to achieve a harmony between the need for us to live in a healthy home, without using up valuable resources to build it.

These pre-designed homes, (plans) are available for purchase, and are practically ‘ready to build’. They are designed with the above aspects as a priority, and are therefore not an average home.

As for the environment and koru designed homes…

Obviously we can’t control all aspects of a construction project. Factors such as site orientation, site terrain, and also the fact that Koru can’t decide where the timber comes from, (managed forests against old growth forest) all play a part in deciding the actual amount of embodied energy in a home).

(Embodied energy is the energy consumed by all of the processes associated with the production of a building, from the mining and processing of natural resources to manufacturing, transport and product delivery. Embodied energy does not include the operation and disposal of the building material - http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs52.html)

(Thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb heat energy. A lot of heat energy is required to change the temperature of high density materials like concrete, bricks and tiles. They are therefore said to have high thermal mass. Lightweight materials such as timber have low thermal mass. Appropriate use of thermal mass throughout your home can make a big difference to comfort and heating and cooling bills-http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs49.html)

What we can do however, is design a home that uses nature to our advantage, instead of working against us. This works on the principle of passive design, and also using thermal mass as an ‘energy bank’.

(Passive design is design that does not require mechanical heating or cooling. Homes that are passively designed take advantage of natural climate to maintain thermal comfort - http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs41.html)

So what we specialise in is Reverse Brick Veneer construction. The method is exactly as it sounds, using the bricks, (other materials are also used instead of bricks) on the inside, with normal exterior cladding on the outside.

Have you ever felt how hot bricks are in summer time? They radiate heat back into the house at night, or how cold bricks are in winter, ‘sucking’ heat from inside the home radiating it outside. Seems crazy to use this method in Australia where extremes in temperature are the norm. In both these circumstances the insulation is working enormously hard to maintain a steady temperature.

RBV is proven by the Australian Government to be one the most effective methods in maintaining a more ‘constant’ temperature year round. (for more information go to http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html)

Koru encourages the scheme of water harvesting and re-use, solar electricity and solar assisted devices such as solar hot water etc…

Combining various methods of efficient design, and stressing the importance of using sustainable materials, we can hope to achieve the goal of building a home that is healthy to both us and the environment.