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David Baillie Architect
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Efficient Home Design – What Does It Really Mean?
Architect David Baillie explains why efficient home design is about so much more than functionality
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Who: David Baillie of David Baillie Architects
Where: Willoughby, Sydney
In his own words: “A house has to look great but it also has to work. There is no point in building a house that is beautiful to look at and costs a bomb to use.”
The idea of an efficient home has grown in popularity over the last decade, largely in the context of energy efficiency, but for architect David Baillie, director of David Baillie Architects, energy consumption is only one important part of a home’s efficiency. “It’s also to do with comfort,” he says, “we want our designs to cost as little to run as possible, but it also has to look and feel good – you need one to dovetail into the other.”
Where: Willoughby, Sydney
In his own words: “A house has to look great but it also has to work. There is no point in building a house that is beautiful to look at and costs a bomb to use.”
The idea of an efficient home has grown in popularity over the last decade, largely in the context of energy efficiency, but for architect David Baillie, director of David Baillie Architects, energy consumption is only one important part of a home’s efficiency. “It’s also to do with comfort,” he says, “we want our designs to cost as little to run as possible, but it also has to look and feel good – you need one to dovetail into the other.”
Early Interest. Energy efficiency has been of interest to Baillie since his university days, so when he set up his practice 10 years ago he decided to specialise in that. “Back then, energy efficiency was a bit of a luxury,” he says. “Now it’s much more than that because electricity and construction is very expensive here – clients are more likely to want it as an integral part of the brief.” However, it’s not just about how much money or energy you’re saving for Baillie: “Efficiency is all about understanding how you live,” he says.
Lifestyle Factor. “What I love most about this profession is that we get to provide a home that works well and that the client enjoys,” Baillie says. “A house is an experience and we want to design it in a way that makes our clients feel like they’re at home. We start by trying to understand their comfort values and the spaces they enjoy being in, and we work from there. It’s exciting to explore the things that clients will want as a part of their home. This is an opportunity to dream,” he says.
Read on for Baillie’s top three ways to design a truly efficient home…
Read on for Baillie’s top three ways to design a truly efficient home…
1. Work With Nature
To be clever and efficient in home design is to make use of the resources that are around you, and for Baillie this includes making use of the natural resources, such as the sun’s rays or a view. “In the winter, for example, we like the sun to come in and warm the house up, whereas in summer we’d prefer the sun out and to make sure that the house is in shade – some people put in a big air conditioner because it’s getting too hot, but we think about what’s making it hot in the first place,” he says.
To regulate temperature year round, this north-facing extension in Naremburn was heavily insulated to keep the cold in and out. Clerestory windows have been used to give good cross ventilation without having to keep all of the doors open and they also purge hot air. Solar panels were also installed on the roof, generating their own electricity and not taking from the grid.
To be clever and efficient in home design is to make use of the resources that are around you, and for Baillie this includes making use of the natural resources, such as the sun’s rays or a view. “In the winter, for example, we like the sun to come in and warm the house up, whereas in summer we’d prefer the sun out and to make sure that the house is in shade – some people put in a big air conditioner because it’s getting too hot, but we think about what’s making it hot in the first place,” he says.
To regulate temperature year round, this north-facing extension in Naremburn was heavily insulated to keep the cold in and out. Clerestory windows have been used to give good cross ventilation without having to keep all of the doors open and they also purge hot air. Solar panels were also installed on the roof, generating their own electricity and not taking from the grid.
2. Use Maximum Space
Efficient design is also about being clever with the way the house is planned and built. “We look closely at what the client wants included – it’s easier to add features in at the design stage rather than putting them in later,” says Baillie, on how the brief really drives the design.
In this compact home in Mosman, the client wanted maximum living space, so the team needed to be clever with how they used the open-plan area downstairs. A bespoke desk area was installed in the unused space beneath the stairs and a glass balustrade on the stairs keeps the area feeling open.
Efficient design is also about being clever with the way the house is planned and built. “We look closely at what the client wants included – it’s easier to add features in at the design stage rather than putting them in later,” says Baillie, on how the brief really drives the design.
In this compact home in Mosman, the client wanted maximum living space, so the team needed to be clever with how they used the open-plan area downstairs. A bespoke desk area was installed in the unused space beneath the stairs and a glass balustrade on the stairs keeps the area feeling open.
3. Look After Your Design
Who’s responsible for making your home work well? “Ultimately, it’s you,” says Baillie. “In the end, our clients are the ones who make it efficient or not. Once the design is complete, the homeowner must make sure the blinds are pulled to keep heat in, or automated systems are installed to regulate it. Efficiency in that sense is up to us, we can be wasteful or not,” he says.
This home in Lane Cove has a number of devices, from louvres to blinds, designed with energy efficiency in mind. “The client is great at operating them,” Baillie says, “which is good, because to ignore those things will affect how well the house will work.”
More: For more information on David Baillie and examples of his work, visit his Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
Who’s responsible for making your home work well? “Ultimately, it’s you,” says Baillie. “In the end, our clients are the ones who make it efficient or not. Once the design is complete, the homeowner must make sure the blinds are pulled to keep heat in, or automated systems are installed to regulate it. Efficiency in that sense is up to us, we can be wasteful or not,” he says.
This home in Lane Cove has a number of devices, from louvres to blinds, designed with energy efficiency in mind. “The client is great at operating them,” Baillie says, “which is good, because to ignore those things will affect how well the house will work.”
More: For more information on David Baillie and examples of his work, visit his Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
Long before it was fashionable or topical as it is today, David was a passionate and tireless advocate of energy... Read More
Review by Javid Nasseri:
David Baillie is a very competent and experienced architect and I have worked with him on number of projects (I am a structural and hydraulic engineer). He is a very good listener and a good thinker. ...More
There is a lot more to efficiency than just the points mentioned…..make sure that finite resources - space, money, building materials are all working as hard as possible eg don’t have spaces that are only used for one specific purpose or for only a small time each day, and this is just one example