Ada Street House showcases sustainable development of a heritage listed cottage through its transformation into a house warmed by the sun, cooled in summer without air conditioning and fully supplied by its own collected rainwater.

Every decision regarding design of the extension, alterations to the cottage and construction techniques was made according to principals of sustainability and how to apply them to the greatest extent possible.

Sun and rainwater are “harvested” and used in combination with thermal mass for heating and more. All of the elements incorporated into the home for achieving warmth throughout winter and cool throughout summer systematically work together, like a body.

Its Adelaide's city “square mile” precinct location demanded site-specific applications to solve issues such as rain water storage, access during construction, sound-proofing, access to winter sunlight, and more, including conjunction of existing heritage and contemporary.

We've created a 35 minute DVD taking viewers on the journey from alterations of the original cottage to project completion, documenting the processes, problems and selections relating to each stage of development. It's a human interest story full of information.