Nestled in the craggy splendours of New South Wales’s Snowy Mountains region, the stunning home innovatively employs every advantage of Schüco’s environmentally sustainable window and door suites. Henry and Kate Lance of Lance Workshop Architecture expand on Schüco’s key role in the project’s myriad standout features.
‘From the beginning, the owners were concerned about minimising the environmental impact of the residence,’ Henry states. ‘While they wanted a high level of glazing featured throughout the property to capitalise on those magnificent Snowy Mountains views, these wishes were combined with an overriding need for environmental efficiency. With these competing goals in mind, we began specifying components for an optimal level of thermal performance.’
The conservation challenges laid down by the client were difficult to meet, let alone exceed. ‘The environmental specifications were extremely intensive,’ says Henry. ‘The clients wanted the home to be entirely off-grid with no external connections to electricity, gas, or water – nothing. We went for a passive house with solar power and battery storage, to make the property completely off-grid.’
With huge glazed areas featured throughout the expansive home, situated in an extreme climate of 35 to minus 15 degrees, thermal performance was obviously at an absolute premium.
Schüco presented the ideal solution to meet these demands. ‘The Schüco window suite’s thermal performance is peerless, due to the innovative design including a thermal break, working in concert with triple glazed IGUs,’ says Henry.
The clients wanted the home to include passive design features, the window suites had to be completely airtight and the glazing specification was critical.
Client satisfaction with the Schüco products installed in the residence came down to thermal performance and durability. Fortunately, the high-precision Schüco units installed, amply met the extreme performance demands. The hardware quality also had to be meticulous.
All Schüco units used in the home were European-style sliding doors coupled with tilt-and-turn windows. These styles were excellent in providing both the function and energy performance required to meet the project brief.
While there were logistical challenges with installing the windows, they were all overcome. To make sure everything went according to plan when installing those hefty Schüco units, spider cranes were used on this challenging site to safely lift and install some of the larger window units securely into place.
As the photos reveal, this combined effort has paid off handsomely with a visually resplendent, zero-emissions home that offers enviable contemporary luxury while meeting the future’s energy demands.
Architect: Kate and Henry – Lance Workshop
Builder: Baillie Building
Photographer: Douglas Frost
Fabricator: Viewco Glass
