Architecture Awards 2021

34 BUILD 2021 Architecture Awards May21001 Best Passive House Designer 2021: Simone Schenkel - Australia Gruen Eco Design is passionate about sustainable design. Because sustainable design can and must be affordable for everyone. As a matter of course, this needs to be integrated throughout the whole design process, rather than designing something and trying to make it sustainable later. Gruen Eco Design’s mission is to make beautiful energy efficient homes a staple in the Australian landscape. Everyone should have the right to live in a comfortable house that does not cost the earth. Company founder and lead designer, Simone Schenkel surrounds herself with a great team and consultants who have the same goal. The company also teams up with great builders, right from the design through to the construction documentation. hen it comes to building an energy efficient and healthy home, there is no way around the passive house standard. Most of Gruen Eco’s current projects are passive houses, some of them going for certification, others following the same passive house principles. But the company is also doing some small renovations and retro fits and town developments. No matter how big or small a budget, it is always possible to improve the efficiency of a home. Gruen Eco’s most exciting project is the Hempcrete Passive House and it is currently under construction. This home will be the first certified hempcrete house in Australia. There were a lot of unknown factors and things that had to be covered, but the entire project has been a great example of how well a process can run when you have a great team. Right from the start, it has been working closely with a builder, hempcrete specialist, structural engineer, passive house consultant/calculations, landscape designer, and landscape gardener. And the Gruen Eco team is managing it all and looking after all the plans and the interior design, and it is looking forward to the end result. Gruen Eco knows that building a new home or doing an extension can be daunting. It can be scary to sign up to a designer or builder because you don’t want to end up paying lots of money in fees just to find out that what you want is way above your budget. Over the years, Simone Schenkel has spoken with so many families who wanted to build their dream home or an extension, but they were too scared that they couldn’t afford what they wanted to achieve. This keeps them stuck in limbo, often for years. To overcome this uncertainty and give potential clients peace of mind, Gruen Eco now offers a Feasibility Design Review. It first prepares some simple concept sketches according to the client’s needs and requirements, and then gets estimates from a few builders or from their estimator. Once it has feedback about the potential build cost, it comes up with a masterplan. A summary of the things that can be achieved will be put together in cooperation with the client, including a rough sketch and scope of what can be done within budget before embarking on the full design and build journey. This process ensures the client can afford their dream home, instead of wasting their W money and time. The company also tries to work closely with the builder throughout the entire documentation, making sure the project stays within budget. Gruen Eco believes in design flexibility. No matter what style or finish the client is after, it can handle any style and turn it into an energy efficient, sustainable and healthy home. It specialises in designing smart homes. Less is more. Quality over quantity. The team has come up with lots of different solutions and designs, depending on each client’s individual tastes. Ultra-modern, Hampton-style, eco-shacks. You name it. Affordability is key for Gruen Eco. It puts the ‘eco’ in front of its own ego. Making a project and working with clients within budget is more important than designing a home that might win awards… Even though the company loves winning awards. The bigger picture sees Gruen Eco’s ultimate goal to make a positive impact on the entire building industry. It strives to inform and educate its consumers to demand better homes, but also help to change and improve the building regulations and the building code to make sure everyone has the right to live in an energy efficient and healthy home. Especially for vulnerable people who cannot afford to build their own home. Drastic changes need to be made to the way homes are created, and there needs to be improvements to the current housing stock to make sure that the elderly as well as the poor have comfortable homes to live in. Company: Gruen Eco Design Contact: Simone Schenkel Email: [email protected] Website: www.gruenecodesign.com.au