Source: Otago Daily Times Inside Out section, print edition published 2 February 2024
Newly certified LEB The Heights Whare has been featured in an extensive two-page (broadsheet) story in the Otago Daily Times. It can only be read online by subscribers (the ODT is the last independently owned major daily in the country and doesn’t give away its content) but these pics of the layout show the attention lavished on this terrific project. You can read Sustainable Engineering Ltd’s case study of this project here.
Author Kim Dungey did a good job describing the Passive House standard and intention and correctly identified the build as a certified PHI Low Energy Building. There’s some great comment from homeowner Sarah Allen about how she and her partner Tim were determined from the outset to create a high-performance home and how the LEB threshold proved the sweet spot for their budget and site-specific design. Sarah undertook training as a Passive House consultant and did the energy modelling for this house herself. The house is small and beautiful, and won the Kaitiakitanga Award in the ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards last year.
I got to drop in on Sarah during a recent trip to Wanaka and can attest that the photos, lovely as they are, do not fully do the home justice. It’s such a thoughtfully-designed space, a beautiful union of form and function. There’s been lots of media focus on the home’s small footprint (86m2 TFA). I join with Sarah and Tim in hoping that it encourages more homeowners to rethink how much space they really need. Small and perfectly formed (and performing) has my vote over big and dumb.