OUR WORKS
House and land packages for the Witchcliffe Eco Village
designButton were approached by 2 builders, Mark Kerrigan and Big Ben Builders earlier in the year to produce some designs for the Eco Village. The development, being a beacon for sustainable development had some pretty stringent design guidelines to comply with.
3 designs per builder were developed as follows:
Kerrigan Builders
The Nyitting
Our smallest home, a straw bale built 2 x 1, comes with well sized spaces, great flow and excellent passive solar performance, making the home comfortable all year round.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.Universal accessibility has been considered in detail, making this home perfect for independent living.
The concrete floor is lightly polished, minimising the use of building products- tiles and toxic tile glues.
The bathroom is located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping this area comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
The Wooditch
A contemporary yet simple design, this 3 x 2 is designed to make the most out of passive solar performance. External walls are built out of a selection of hempcrete and framed timber walls, allowing the home amazing thermal performance.
An option for an upper floor retreat makes this home a great, roomy entertainer for when family and friends come to visit for an extended time.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.
Universal accessibility has been considered in detail, making this home perfect for independent living.
The vertical and horizontal thermal mass will assist in minimising temperature fluctuations internally throughout the year.
Ensuite and bathrooms are located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping the areas comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
The Warden
This large, barn style home was designed to house a large family and is taking entertaining to the next level, including an outdoor kitchen area in the large alfresco space. The Alfresco protects the western side of the home whilst also allowing connection to the communal space.
A selection of hempcrete and timber framed external walls.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.
Universal accessibility has been considered in detail throughout, making this home perfect for independent living.
The vertical and horizontal thermal mass will assist in minimising temperature fluctuations internally throughout the year.
Ensuite and bathrooms are located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping the areas comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
Big Ben Builders:
The Buttercup
Big Ben’s smallest home, a 2 x 1, comes with well sized spaces, great flow and excellent passive solar performance, making the home comfortable all year round.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.
Universal accessibility has been considered in detail, making this home perfect for independent living.
The concrete floor is lightly polished, minimising the use of building products- tiles and toxic tile glues.The bathroom is located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping this area comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
The Bottlebrush
A contemporary yet simple design, this 3 x 2 is designed to make the most out of passive solar performance.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.
Universal accessibility has been considered in detail, making this home perfect for independent living.
The vertical and horizontal thermal mass will assist in minimising temperature fluctuations internally throughout the year.
Ensuite and bathrooms are located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping the areas comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
The Marri
This large, barn style home was designed to house a large family and is taking entertaining to the next level.
Openings are placed to allow good air-flow, keeping the home fresh at all times.
Universal accessibility has been considered in detail, making this home perfect for independent living.
The vertical and horizontal thermal mass will assist in minimising temperature fluctuations internally throughout the year.
Ensuite and bathrooms are located north with a full height window to the shower, keeping the areas comfortable and mould free naturally all year round.
OUR ETHOS
Is to create clever homes that are naturally warm in winter and naturally cool in summer. This not only makes for a comfortable home all year but also makes sense environmentally.
Parke Road, Gooseberry Hill WA
This home was designed for a lovely young couple in the Gooseberry Hill area. Home was built by Custom Green.
This 2 storey passive solar home with an open plan living where a central atrium connects the ground floor which was zoned into north facing living and a south facing kids area. A second, south facing living area connects the home to the established gardens facing the street. The ground floor has in slab heating throughout that was divided into 2 zones for energy efficiency.
The upper floor was designed to be dedicated as a parent retreat with a south facing small balcony that overlooks the gardens. Home is treating its own black water with a Taylex system.
Rapture in Hair, Busselton
New Hair Salon fit out
This fit out was designed and built by designButton for Tarryn McLean in 2019, her vision was to set up a home salon which was luxurious & decadent.
The new Rapture is a boutique salon in a warm, luxurious and inviting space. We wanted to infuse the salon with an atmosphere of relaxed decadence, and for our guests to walk in and immediately feel a sense of beauty and tranquillity. Our house is in a small suburban estate with the salon being in the garage. As it is at the front of the house we thought it was important to minimise its impact on the neighbourhood.
To accomplish this we have effectively built a room within a room, not affecting the integrity of the house in any way. When the salon is closed, passersby would be unaware of its existence, however, once the roller door retreats into the bulkhead, a fully operational and welcoming salon is exposed for all to see.
Creating a suburban oasis, with an outdoor retreat for clients, has been achieved through the use of recycled wood and glass, with subtle copper tones throughout. The timber used in the custom build is 250-year-old Oregon which has been stained Japanese black. With regards to sustainability, 90% of the fit out has been completed using recycled materials.
“What a pleasure it was having dealt with designBUTTON when we converted our garage to the new Rapture hair salon. Their vision and understanding of what we wanted was not only spot on but was very creative with incredible enthusiasm. With amazing attention to detail , the finished product was absolutely unbelievable! Highly recommend designBUTTON.”
Carinya Rise, Dunsborough
Clients approached designButton to get assistance with designing a renovation and fit-out to existing, outdated laundry, powder room, bathroom and ensuite.
Adima, of designButton, created the new and bespoke cabinetry out of solid Marri timber, creating luxurious yet simple and clean wet areas that will last the test of times.
Martha Street, South Fremantle
This old colonial home was in dire need of an upgrade. The home consisted of the 2 original bedrooms with a built in rear veranda that accommodated a very small living room and kitchen. Added to this previously were a small bathroom and a single, lean to garage. The owners required a larger, modern kitchen, a decent sized living room and a studio/guestroom. The addition needed to be cost effective as the owners travel regularly.
The owners decided for light weight construction with a recycled jarrah floor as a tip of the hat to the olden days. The framed walls were insulated with R2.5 bulk insulation and clad with a Hardies weatherboard cladding, again to keep the addition uniform with the existing home. The garage was extended to accommodate the owners’ studio/office space where she could run her business from. A set of glazed French doors provides beautiful light and warmth in the winter months as well as a lovely view to the rear garden. The part of the garage facing the street has been turned into storage space for camping gear etc.
The addition of the living area is facing a magnificent garden. The deck outside the dining and living area diffuses the indoor/outdoor living, maximising the use of the block. When the concertina doors are fully opened up the garden almost sprawls right into the living.
The owners have also added an extensive photo voltaic system on the roof above the living, ensuring the energy bills are annihilated.
In all, the addition at Martha Street was a cost effective one, providing the freedom for the family to travel and generally living their lives without having an expensive mortgage compromising their lifestyle. They were able to create a home that is comfortable but without negotiating their quality of life.
“Pernille from Design Button did the drawings for our extension to our heritage listed cottage in Fremantle. We could not be happier with her work and love living in this great space. We also got a customised timber inlay detail in our kitchen floor and amazing timber kick boards made for the kitchen by Swami Adima, the other part of Design Button super team. We love your work and don’t hesitate to give you the highest recommendation.”
Blue Manna, Dunsborough
Is a buzzing, fully licensed restaurant in Dunsboroughs town centre who specialise in local seafood and produce. Blue Manna create dishes rich in flavour and the cuisine would best be described as Asian infused.
designButton were approached by the proprietor Coby in the construction phase of the bistro as he was seeking advice on the interior fit. The brief was natural, raw materials. Adima used various salvaged timbers to create shelving, kitchen benchtops and the bar. We think it goes really well together with the exposed and polished concrete.
Enjoy a relaxed meal under the peppi trees at Blue Manna, if you like seafood you won’t be disappointed!
Collick Street, Hilton
The Collick Street home was designed for a builder, Brendon Gill, to be him and his partner’s home but also a showpiece of what’s possible on a budget as well as a testament to Brendon’s building skills.
A 3 x 2 with an adjoining studio, it is a small single storey home, constructed out of stock standard building materials. The home reached a 9.2 stars energy rating with single glazing throughout.
It has a 3000l rainwater tank attached that feeds the 2 WCs and the laundry as well as a large PV system on the roof which will not only feed the home all its energy needs but also feed back to the grid. It has been designed to cater for ageing in place using universal access principles. It is low allergen in that paints and materials have been carefully considered and contains low/no VOC. There are no carpets anywhere; the concrete slab is exposed, lightly polished and sealed. This minimises dust build up and makes for an easily cleaned home. The home has no artificial heating or cooling and will only use ceiling fans to cool the home in summer.
The owners have moved into the home but it is still somewhat a building site. The landscaping is yet to be established, walls needs a lick of paint and internal doors need to be hung.
The home will be entered into the annual event Sustainable House Day 2019 and open for viewing on the day. For more information, please go to www.sustainablehouseday.com next year.
“Pernille has been a God sent for me as a small builder, she produces very professional, well-presented and cost effective plans. She has a passion for solar passive and energy efficient design and has come up with some incredibly well researched projects for me.
For example I have one project that she designed for me on Collick Street in Hilton, it was a small development on a small parcel of land that, as part of the development approval required that the new home had to have a 7 star energy rating, she achieved for me a 9.2 star rating. The home has a constant temperature of 22 degrees winter and summer without air-conditioning.
As part of the brief for the Collick street house it had to have universal access to all rooms and thoughtful separation between the buildings in the subdivision, all this was achieved with great attention to detail.
Pernille’s passion and enthusiasm has helped to sell ideas to clients as she has a warm, friendly manner when talking and discussing people’s homes. I will continue using her services in the future and have no hesitation to recommend her to my clients.”
Sanctuary Circle, Cowaramup
When our clients approached us to design an energy efficient and comfortable home, we knew it would have to be something special for these amazing people.
The block is quite steeply sloping to the rear and the street elevation is facing north/west. We decided to couple a slab to the ground to get some thermal mass so quite a bit of fill was carted to the site from a nearby site. The secret with this home is that, whilst addressing the street, it has the ground floor living area coming off at a 45 degree angle to capture the winter sun. The external walls and upper floor being built in timber have increased insulation to protect the home throughout the year. The roof cover is Colorbond lined with Anti-con for extra protection. This becomes extra important as our clients have chosen a darker colour palette both externally and internally. The darker roof would have been a disaster should they have chosen a tiled roof (which was one of the developers requirement we very cheekily oversaw). Roof tiles being thermal mass will hold and store heat and as such something we want to stay away from at all costs on top of the roof.
By locating the stairs in the hallway near the entry we have isolated the void from the living by adding a door between the hallway and the living. This means that any heat accumulated in the living will not disperse up to the first floor.
All the benchtops, 3 doors and the stair threads were created by us, using the timbers from an old Marri tree that blew over in a storm in Margaret River.
The home boasts a 23,000l water tank that feeds the whole of the home.
A Photo Voltaic system will be installed further down the track.
This home will be open on Sustainable House Day 2018, Sunday 16 September 2018, please come and meet us on the day. Go to www.sustainablehouseday.com for more information.
“Pernille from designButton was absolutely amazing when it came to designing our home. It was really nice to work with someone who is truly passionate about creating an eco-friendly and functional home whilst still keeping our design ideas in mind. We didn’t have an easy block to work with and Pernille overcame a lot of obstacles to design us a home that is not only solar passive but truly unique and beautiful, we couldn’t be happier.
DesignButtons woodwork guru Adima did an amazing job of creating our beautiful one-off doors and kitchen bench which are feature pieces within our home. He was incredibly helpful throughout the design process, even came with us to handpick locally sourced, native hardwood. His knowledge and understanding of timbers and how to use it really makes him a true artist of his trade.”
