Ynja and Jeff`s Russell Island House

Ynja and Jeff`s house. This sustainable vacation house on Russell Island in Moreton Bay about an hour from Brisbane city was designed for my daughter and son-in law. It was simultaneously a second test building for the use of the UBS building system. It took one builder 3 months to build the house, with an occasional helper and other tradesmen called in to install electricity and plumbing at the appropriate time during the process.

Two trees were removed to accommodate the house within the cypress grove which dominates the site.

The house is designed to take full advantage of the views and pleasant outdoor climate. Most windows are in the form of sliding glass doors, which allow whole wall sections to be opened up, creating the feel of a “veranda living” both outside and inside. -------------

Energy and Water Considerations:

Eaves extend 900 mm over the walls to provide shade from the summer sun.
During winter, temperatures drop - especially after sunset, and hence the roof is insulated to a value of R=7 and walls to a value of R=4.5 while only curtains reduce heat loss through the glass. The floor is built as a heat-store being 75 mm thick aerated concrete panels insulated underneath and tiled with stone-gray sintered tiles to accumulate the lower winter sun’s heat during daylight hours.
Most of the lighting is provided with indirect lighting from energy-saving fluorescent tubes with alternative spotlights recessed in the ceiling to provide light for work areas, dining table and lounge area.

Solar heaters on the roof provide hot water to the premises.

The local shire demands town water intake to all premises for health reasons, but encourages rainwater collection for garden irrigation and toilet flushing. It further demands "in ground trench disposal of treated effluent" on the Morton Bay Islands, which are not sewered.
The water cycle was designed to meet those demands and at the same time to maximize use of collected rainwater and the reuse of treated effluent.
Due to the presence of overhanging Cypress branches there is going to be both leaf litter and bird deposits on the roof. “Smart-flow” gutters will divert most of the leaf litter over the edges, and a generous 500 litre in ground first-flow diverter directs dirt and bird deposits from the 140m² roof to in-ground trickle irrigation of native lillipilly trees, planted as a privacy screen on the lower border of the lot half way along the building. When the first flow diverter is full, water starts to enter the rainwater tank through a membrane filter. A specially designed laser-light monitoring device trips a solenoid valve open and shut to allow 60 litres @ a time of back up town water to enter the tank when the water level in the tank hits a “preset” - lowest allowed level. A pump maintains adequate water pressure from the tank to the house.

The tank water is used directly for:

a. The solar hot water heater

b. Showers

c. W.C.

d. Hand basins

e. Kitchen sink

and via carbon filtration and UV-sterilization for drinking water to meet and supersede council requirements with regard to health risks from tank-water.

All effluent from the house goes to an on site biological treatment system, which more than meets council requirements for effluent treatment. The treated water is then distributed through in-ground trenches throughout the lot, for the benefit of the existing cypress trees.
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About the UBS System.

The "universal building system" or "UBS" is a steel based post and beam based modular frame system employing a construction module of 3.6 x 3.6m, using 75x75x3 mm SHS columns and 150x50x3 RHS beams for bearers and linters between the columns. Joists are 150x150x2 RHS @ 600mm. In addition the system provides standardized post extensions to carry a roof rafter, and standardized “outrigger” sections, which fix to lintel and bearer to increase the design with of the module by 600, 900 and 120

Ynja and Jeff`s Russell Island House by Magnus G. Bjornsson in Australia won the WA Award Cycle 1. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.