Hello,

I do computer programming for a living, selling shareware, such as Dragonfly (a unique personal information manager), on the Internet. This web page is about the house I have built, Eagle Eye. It's located near Darwin, NT in Australia. It was designed by Troppo Architects (www.troppo.net.au) and built by Tag Construction NT (Web page available from www.realnt.com.au as Vogue Homes). My experiences with house building have convinced me to write a house design application; if you want to learn more about it click here. (The download includes a sample 3D model of my house.)

The house is quite unique, so if you're thinking about building a house this might be a good site to browse through. Even though the design specifics are probably not appropriate to your climate, some of the principals behind the design might be useful.

One such principle you may find useful is the fundamental thinking behind the house design: Many people "design" the house they want to build by finding a good-looking house in a plan-book and making changes from there. I took a different approach; I first decided upon some major goals (such as "It must last a long time.") and problems I've seen in previous houses. ("Too much noise from other people in the house.") The design of the house followed from the requirements.

Darwin is located on the northern coast of Australia, called the Top End. There are basically two seasons, the "Dry" season from April through September, and the "Wet" season from October through March. The dry season has highs of 32c, lows of 17c at night, and no rain for six months; it's very comfortable during the day and a bit chilly at night. All of Darwin's rain (about 2 meters of it) is saved up for the wet season, with highs of 36c and lows of 22c, compounded by 90% humidity. This makes it very hot and humid during the day, but mostly comfortable at night.

Not only does it rain during the wet season, but Darwin is visited by cyclones, some of which have done terrific damage. In Darwin, time is divided into two eras, pre-cyclone and post-cyclone. The cyclone is Cyclone Tracy, which on Christmas Eve 1974 basically destroyed the town, leveling most of Darwin's houses. The winds were so strong they blew off the wind gauge at the airport, so no one is really sure if it was a category four or five cyclone. To top matters off, people were so engrossed in Christmas and jaded by previous false alarms, that most people stayed around town, oblivious of the cyclone until it bore down upon them. Needless to say, Cyclone Tracy affected the psyche of Darwin for many years.

Especially house designs…

Before cyclone Tracey, houses generally didn't have air conditioning, relying on ceiling fans and ingenious design to keep people cool. They were elevated, long and narrow, and had as many louvered windows as possible. This allowed the breeze to easily flow through the house, cooling it off. (Elevated houses had a few other advantages, such as flood and fire protection, and they made it more difficult for insects and snakes to get inside.) During the day elevated houses are about 2 degrees cooler than the outside air temperature, and at night they're about 2 degrees warmer. This meant that during the hottest time of the year (the wet season) fans would need to be on between 1:00 PM and 6:00 PM for people to be comfortable. During the rest of the day, and during the dry season, fans were rarely used.

After the cyclone tore apart the elevated houses that people sheltered in, the population acquired an understandably large fear of cyclone wind damage. For the next few years any new houses were basically bunkers. They were low to the ground with cement blocks, core-filled to withstand the impact of flying debris. Large louvered windows were reduced to small holes that would keep out flying missiles. Locals "affectionately" call them "hot boxes" because they're always hot inside. During the wet season the cement blocks heat up and never really cool off; the inside is 32c during the day and 31c at night. Opening the windows help, but there aren't many to open. Air conditioning is required.

Since Tracey, Darwin has largely expanded through subdivisions built en-masse by developers, who have continued to propagate-cement block houses. They're cheaper to build than cyclone-coded elevated houses. More can be crammed into an acre. (Houses with lots of louvers not only get better breezes, but they make it easier hear one's neighbors.) And (I say cynically) no one really knows if you didn't core fill the walls. "Core filling" involves putting reinforcing bar in the cement-block cavities and then filling the entire wall with concrete. Concrete can be quite expensive. I've heard enough anecdotes to believe that many walls are not core filled like they should be. To make matters worse, most people living in Darwin are transplants from the cooler southern climates in Australia. Developers design their houses so they look like the houses the transplants have left behind. Such designs tend to be inappropriate for the climate. One common "feature" is wall-to-wall carpeting, which gets very moldy up in Darwin and is completely inappropriate. Red roofs are also common because they mimic the ceramic tile from southern Australia; all roofs in Darwin are steel to withstand cyclones, and because of the intense sunlight, silvery or white coloring would be the most energy efficient choice.

The net result of all this is that most new houses in Darwin consume huge amounts of electricity to power their air conditioners and hundreds of thousands of liters of waters to maintain a green lawn and palm trees. (Only a few palm trees are are native to the area, but people think that because it's in the tropics they must have a yard full of palms.) The houses aren't well designed for the climate. Poor design costs money. During the wet season, a "hot box" uses about $100-$200 electricity per month. A traditional house without air conditioning and without a watered garden uses $30 to $50.

This phenomena isn't unique to Darwin. I've seen it in the US, where new houses in Phoenix (a desert) have virtually the same design as those built in Seattle (almost a temperate rain forest).

My house's design grew out of a handful of basic goals:

• Let the structure show through, like Frank Lloyd Wright's houses.
• Let the house be what it is.
• Have an interesting and unique design.
• The house is designed to last.
• Low maintenance.
• Take advantage of the house site and climate.

Some details…

Let the structure show through - In my mind, the most important parts of the house are the foundation, structure, roof, and external walls. Everything else is secondary because if the core structure is not built properly the entire house is worthless. If so much work is spent on the structure, you might as well let it show through instead of hiding it behind facades.

Let the house be what it is - I've seen too many house exteriors and interiors that are veneers designed to make the house look like they're built out of a different material than they really are. Vinyl siding that looks like wooden battens. Fake columns to make the house look impressive. Marble-looking vinyl-tiles. Laminated counter-tops that resemble granite. Similarly, I marvel at modern houses designed to imitate 100-year old styles. No one seems to notice that the styles from 1900 were dictated by the materials and technologies of the day. In Buffalo, NY (USA) where I grew up, people would buy windows with full size plates of glass and overlay fake dividers to make the windows look like they were produced from smaller pieces of glass. 200 years ago glassmakers couldn't produce plates of glass larger than about 20 cm, so to make a large window they had to use many small plates held together with wood dividers. Trying to mimic that technological limitation today seems a bit absurd unless you're remodeling a 200 year-old house and don't want to clash styles.

Interesting design - Most houses are built by developers. Developers design their houses to offend the fewest number of people possible, in order to maximize the percentage of the population willing to buy the house. What you get is boring - McHouses. I wanted a house that people would notice, although not so outlandish that it would offend my neighbors.

Designed to last - My parent's house is more than 150 years old. I expect nothing less of my house. Many houses (especially those by developers) try to look expensive through veneers, but are really poorly built in areas you can't see. They quickly fall apart because they put all their money into making the house look expensive. I'd rather have my house use plain-looking finishes, but have it last. Of course, building to last isn't cheap, especially when your house must survive cyclones, bush fires, termites, and floods.

Low maintenance - I'm inherently lazy. I hate cutting the grass, repairing the house, etc. I should be able to leave my house alone for a year and come back to it without it being any worse off.

Take advantage of the property and climate - In Seattle I owned a house overlooking a lovely wetlands clearing. Unfortunately, it wasn't the house's living room with the best views; it was the bedrooms. Whoever built it used an off-the-plan design that "wasted" the view. I've also been in houses that have great views of Mt. Rainier… from the bathroom. As far as climate, I've already told you what I think about hot boxes.

After talking to several architects, I eventually decided to use Troppo Architects. They've been in Darwin for about 20 years, produce innovative designs, and are geared towards designing houses appropriate for the climate - no air conditioning required. Most people in Darwin have heard about them, and everyone seems to have an opinion about their work. I thought it was a good match.

Your own goals for a house are undoubtedly different that mine. That's good, just as long as you have some sort of fundamental goals. Most people seem to buy houses as if off a menu. They look around, find the design they like the best, and buy it. Even people who have enough money to build their own house tend to get a plan book, find a house they like, and then have an architect design one like that but with a few minor changes. Do you want a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with Cheese? Quarter pounder, but hold the pickles. That's basically the choice you get when you buy off of plan. I want to make up my own recipe, not choose off a menu. I suggest you do the same.

Even if people do build a house from scratch, avoiding the plan books, they often follow traditions merely because they've always been done that way. They don't look at elements of the house and understand their "intent" - why the elements are there in the first place.

A non-architectural example: People learn how to cook from their parents. One woman learned that when cooking a roast in the oven, always cut off the end and lay it on the side of the pan. She didn't stop and think why she did this, because she was just following the same recipe and steps as her mother. One day she became curious and asked her mother why she always cut the end off the roast before baking it. Why? Because the pan her mother used was too small for the entire cut of beef. Of course, the daughter owned a larger pan that could easily hold the entire roast without having to cut off one end.

Architectural example: Kitchen cupboards. Everyone has them. They're used to put away pots, pans, plates, cutlery, etc. But why do they all have doors on them? Our ancestors had several reasons that I can think of: Keep the dust off. Keep mice/rats off the plates. And make the kitchen look neat and tidy when guests walk through. For most people, mice/rats are not nearly the problem they were for their grandparents. Personally, I don't find dust that much of a problem, and if my guests are put off by seeing my dishes that's their problem. I found that kitchen doors have several disadvantages that outweighed their usefulness: They increase the cost of the cabinetry. They provide a nice dark hideaway for cockroaches (which can squeeze through any opening). And they make it more difficult to pull out and put away dishes. After understanding the "intent" of cupboard doors and then realizing that the reasons for doors had little bearing, I got rid of the doors on my cabinets.

Times change, and the old "defaults" are not always the right choices today. We have larger pans, and different building materials than our parents. Not to mention different climates. Whenever you're about to choose the "default" material or way of building, figure out the element's original intent, and then determine if those conditions still exist for you.

If you haven't guessed already, Eagle Eye is elevated, providing more of a breeze than if it were on the ground. The elevation also improves the view, provides protection from termites, and makes it a bit more difficult for snakes and insects to get in.

The house is divided into three sections, the main living area with kitchen, dining room, and living room, and two bedroom wings, each of which has two bedrooms and a full bath. Dividing the house into three sections maximizes the breezes because each section is only one room deep. As a side-benefit every room has a view. And, it solves some of the intra-house noise problems. The house feels larger than it actually is. Even though the house is only about 200 square meters, it's 30 meters from end to end. That means someone's stereo at the other end of the house won't be quite as loud.

In the center of the house, joining all three sections together, is a tower that people can climb to get a 360 degree view of the territory. Or just to get away, or even sleep under the stars. The tower doubles as a platform for a lightning rod; Darwin has many immense lightning storms, and I feel safer with a lightning rod overhead when I'm living in a house on top of a hill.

The house's structure is entirely steel. The roof and walls are zincalum corrugated metal. It's long lasting, termite safe, and non-flammable. The metallic zincalum coating reflects much of the sunlight, keeping the house cool.

Inside, the ceiling is zincalum coated corrugated metal. The metallic zincalum coating brightens up the inside, saving on artificial lighting. And more important, it's easy to clean and long lasting. Sheetrock ceilings always get stained, and in Darwin, they sag after a few years because of all the humidity and the inevitable leaks in the roof. (When a cyclone dumps 10 cm of rain in a couple of hours, all leaks are exposed.) The ceiling can be unscrewed to access the wiring.

The interior walls are plywood. It's easy to clean and fairly difficult to damage. Sheetrock is much more fragile and ages quickly in the humidity. Plus, the plywood sheets can be unscrewed to expose wiring and piping behind the walls, making for easy repairs and upgrades. Looking behind the walls once in awhile also provides peace-of-mind, knowing that termites haven't built any galleries there.

Most of the floors are decking hardwood. While the decking gaps pose a problem sweeping (the dirt always seems to fall between the slats), they are a savior when a combined rainstorm and windstorm hit. Any rain blown into the house drips out between through the gaps. Furthermore, the gaps improve airflow and add to the house's "effect." Visitors not only have views all around them through the louvers and insect screen, but they can look through the floor at the ground several meters below. Eagle Eye is not for people afraid of heights.

The kitchen and bathroom floors are slate because they're the most likely to get dirty. It's easier to mop slate than pry out bits of food from between hardwood decking. I've used slate instead of ceramic tile because the house site is very rocky, and the stone floor merges the interior of the house with the exterior ground.

The house's walls are mostly windows, either louvered windows or a wall of insect screening. Not only is insect screening cheaper than louvers, but it's barely visible. People feel much more exposed to nature, especially when a downpour is blown in through the screens.

Originally I was thinking about getting some nice hardwood arts-and-crafts furniture built. Arts-and-crafts would fit in with the house style and survive any accidental watering by horizontal rain. However, after considering the problem more, I realized that the best furniture for Darwin (and for the house design) is canvas furniture.

Most people in Darwin have standard fluffy couches with cushions and whatnot. I have to admit, they're a lot softer than canvas furniture. However, in Darwin's hot and humid climate problems arise:

• When seated on them, half one's body is insulated, causing one's backside to get hot and sweaty.
• This sweat seeps into the couch over time and makes it smell. To clean out the couch you have to pay some expensive carpet-cleaning company to steam clean it.
• The odor is exacerbated if rain blown into the house happens to soak the couch. A wet couch is ready for the dump.
• Insects like hiding under and in the couch.
• In the event that a snake ever gets in the house (which they sometimes do), they'll head straight under the couch to hide. You'll never see it.

Beds have the same problems.

Canvas furniture works well because:

• Plenty of air flows around the canvas, reducing the amount you sweat.
• If it does start to smell you just take it outside, hose it down, and let it dry in the sun.
• A little bit of rain doesn't hurt canvas furniture.
• Because it's so light, it's easy to move out of the rain.
• As an added bonus, most canvas furniture folds up, allowing you to store it away until guests come. If you leave it out spiders will quickly web it up.
• Creatures can't hide under or in it.
• And best of all, it's cheap.

The only problem with canvas furniture is that it's not as durable as other types. Many people in Darwin have cane furniture with removable cushions - half way between canvas and fluffy couches.

I sleep in a hammock. So do many indigenous peoples living in equatorial regions. It's very comfortable in the wet season because the air circulation keeps you cool. In the dry it's chilly. Hammocks are cheap, and they're easy to store away until guests come. However, if you're going to sleep in a hammock I suggest that you buy the largest one you can because they're the most comfortable. I have a large (6' wide by 14' long) Mayan style hammock.

To save money, I've made my own paintings. See www.users.bigpond.com/MikeRozak/Paintings/Paintings.htm.   For those of you interested, I wrote a small computer program that helps me with my paintings called Oil Painting Assistant.

Energy and water

My house is on a hill made of rocks and boulders, about ½ km from the nearest power cable. It would be very expensive to run a power cable up to the house, and a bore on top the hill is out of the question. As a result, I've had to design the house to use solar energy and collect water off the roof.

Because solar systems are expensive, I've had to get appliances and lights that are energy efficient. I have a gas oven and cook-top because solar can't produce enough energy to run them. I don't have a dishwasher because of the high energy and water usage. Although with the kitchen designed the way it is I don't really miss it. No air conditioning is allowed, and even fan usage must be rationed. I don't even have a clothes dryer. Many people in Darwin don't, because drying clothes in the tropical sun is nearly as fast as a mechanical dryer.

Lighting is kept dim, not only because of energy concerns, but because strong light attracts more insects inside. Even with insect screening they still seem to get in. Fluorescents are the most energy efficient. If anyone in the house wants to read they need to plug in a lamp or wait until the sun rises.

Water too is tight. I have about 300 sqm of roof fed into 110,000 liters of tanks. A typical family will use between 100,000 and 200,000 liters a year as long as they don't water the lawn and shrubs and take care not to waste water. Darwin can get up to 2 meters of rain a year, providing me with 600,000 liters of water. Unfortunately, those 2 meters all come within 4-6 months, so I need to save enough water for the rest of the year.

On the bright side, because I don't have any spare water I can't maintain a lawn or shrubbery. Even if I did have the water I still wouldn't do any landscaping; the water's a good excuse though.

Credits (in order of appearence)