Scarborough Passivhaus

Renovation of a 60’s 3 bed 1 bathroom house house with a pool and deck extension and a rear bedroom and bathroom in Scarborough, Western Australia, minutes from the beach and adjacent to a park with native peppermint trees and gum trees.

After living for several years in an old home that baked in the summer and let in draughty gusts in the winter, Brendan and Laura committed to a Passivhaus build for a healthy, comfortable and energy efficient home. . After looking at options which would demolish and rebuild on a flattened block, the couple decided they wanted to renovate the existing as a way of keeping the elevated position.

Brendan and Laura wanted to echo the natural setting in the home’s nishes, they admired mid century style and wanted to include design references from this period, in particular a green kitchen and green mid century inspired front door! Their original selections included quite a lot of dark grey and black tones which weren’t sitting well with their desire to bring nature in.

Combining Mid Century, with it’s strong shades and pops of colour references with an Organic Natural Style can be tricky! After reviewing all their initial selections, I prepared a Mood board which brought the soft, organic feel to all the finishes selections while keeping the Mid Century references to the lighting fixtures and furniture selection.

Saving the original archways and picture window onto the park was so eective in dening the mood of the home without expensive big architectural ‘statements’.

The house is warm and relaxed but in a rened and elegant way. The clutter of small children can be easily absorbed into the ample storage and the soft curves and solid timber furniture suits family life well. Timber always brings a lovely atmosphere to a home and in particular, when timber tones are mixed well, they provide a colour palette straight from nature. People don’t realise that woods are a colour!

Photos by Carla Atley Building Designer Howes Design Builder Xon Construction