Tasman Lifestyle Home
Stage one of this permaculture inspired new home and lifestyle block in Ruby Bay, Tasman is now complete.
Creating a resilient, environmentally sensitive home that would develop as the family grew was the wish of this new couple. Comprehensive planning was needed, starting with a permaculture plan of the entire property to identify features of the land. This led to planning of the overall site, including access routes, vegetable gardens, orchards, wood lots, paddocks and ultimately the best location for the new home.
As the house was to be staged to cope with a growing family, the plan was broken down into individual pavilions that could be added as required. The first stage forms the core of the house with services designed to cope with future demand. Passive solar design principles and photovoltaic power generation have been planned in to minimise ongoing running costs. Local redwood cladding covers the majority of the house with feature walls clad in recycled horizontal iron reflecting the area and the New Zealand vernacular of the 'shed'.
A large covered outdoor space opens up to the west expanding the living space. This leads onto vegetable gardens visible from the kitchen and an area where young children can play under the watchful eye of their Mum.