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Featured Article
| International selection |
Innovative low energy construction is rarely recognised on a European
scale. The Isover Energy Efficiency Awards are one exception — here are
nominations from across the continent that were celebrated at the
European awards ceremony in Barcelona on 2 June
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Read More >>
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Latest Blog Comments
Official magazine of Easca  |
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Eamon Ryan's eco upgrade |
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Tuesday, 15 November 2011 |
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Page 3 of 5
He's delighted to see projects like his becoming more and more common. "I saw a house the other day getting external insulation on it," he says. "That's becoming commonplace in a way it wasn't five years ago."
He believes word of mouth between neighbours is at least partially fuelling the growth in energy upgrades. "I think it's close to reaching a critical mass where it continues to evolve and take off," he says. "People see the experience other people have in terms of warmer, more comfortable, more attractive houses."
"You don't need to heat it unless it's really cold," Ryan says the of the extension
Architectural statement
Mike Haslam, Solearth Ecological Architecture
On our first site visit to the Ryan-White house we were greeted by an array of bicycles spread across the drive, a garage that was by no means the shelter of a car and, in the rear garden, we came across the hencoop and its four fox-defying inhabitants. The garden, which steps down towards the river Dodder in two terraces, has a semi-secluded orchard in the lower area. This was urban living, but clearly touching the greener good life.
The existing semi-detached brick 1950s house has an understated intact interior to the front rooms and staircase but the intervening years have not been kind to the rear of the house, with poorly built extensions and inappropriate sun rooms. Eamon and Victoria asked us to help create a family house using the best of the existing building, removing the poorer additions and strengthening the relationship to the rear garden. They wanted the house to be flexible – allowing for changing family dynamics over time and including a work place that was sufficiently detached from the house, but with ease of access. Beyond the architecture of this was a brief for a carbon neutral energy strategy, to close energy and water cycles where achievable and to utilise a pallet of low embodied energy materials. Self-sufficiency was not the aim – rather it was the minimisation of reliance on external inputs where feasible in an urban scenario.
We enlarged the three-bedroom house in a number of ways. We converted the existing garage into a playroom/student flat with access to the front – what is now a new playroom is designed to adapt to be either a self-contained granny flat or a teenager studio. We createdan extra bedroom over the old garage and converted the attic space into a bedroom, with acoustic insulation in the attic floor provided by a sand filled cardboard insulation product. The new attic stair respectfully follows the existing house in terms of space and detail, and doors were reused from demolished extensions to achieve a sense of continuity in the body of the existing house. Low VOC Farrow and Ball paints helped to maintain something of the colour quality and warmth of the existing interior.
Eamon Ryan, standing outside his renovated home, is delighted to see projects like this become more and more common. He believes people are becoming convinced of the merits of retrofitting as they see the "experience other people have in terms of warmer, more comfortable, more attractive houses."
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