Cool living in a hot climate

Melbourne isn’t the hottest of Australian cities, with summer temperatures around 26°C (79°F). Yet there can be wide swings between hot and cool weather in a single day and periodic heat waves have peaked at 47°C (117°F). Most homes and buildings operate air conditioning units and even on my visit here in March this added cooling is welcome. But mechanical systems are energy intensive, noisy, costly and they add heat to the external environment, contributing to the urban heat island effect.

Architects in Melbourne working on the Nightingale Housing model have come up with some fantastic designs for natural cooling and ventilation, alongside a whole range of other sustainability features. The Nightingale 1 building, designed by Breathe Architecture, is in the Brunswick neighbourhood of Melbourne a few minutes from Anstey rail station. My host, planner Rod Duncan, arranged for us to meet one of the architects and current residents, Dan McKenna, who kindly showed us around. On the ground floor the building has a shared entrance for Nightingale Housing offices and residents to the 20 flats. Across the street is The Commons apartment building (same architects) and a gallery for another architecture firm. There’s also a pop-up park, coffee bar, cafe, natural wine & craft beer shop across the ground floors of these two buildings. Although the rest of the area is largely light industry warehouses, the shops and ubiquitous street art are adding to the growing sense of community.

We started our tour on the roof where residents can relax on the roof top garden, cook in the communal BBQ and enjoy meals around a massive table, shaded by solar PV panels. I loved the laundry facilities on the roof with drying lines so wet clothes don’t clutter up the living spaces. The rooftop vegetable patch is still being planted out and provides residents with a place to garden in the otherwise hard-surfaced surroundings. All of the building’s electricity is generated through the solar PV and they have rainwater harvesting for irrigation and common-area toilets. The irrigation extends down on to the north facing balconies where grape vines are planted to provide shading during the summer months. The leaves will fall off during the winter and allow the sun to filter through and warm the apartments. The full effect is clearly seen on The Commons building across the street. Rod noted that this is one of the few examples of a successful green wall in Melbourne (most die from lack of proper design/management). The centre of the building has a light core allowing cross-ventilation in the flats for cooling. Rainforest plants at the bottom of this space add to the cooling effect. There may be some challenges with noise as the rooms adjacent to this space are bedrooms. Noise from the communal roof space travels down in the evening. Inside the flats the architects have designed the kitchens and lounge spaces with built-in units out of plywood with a matte black veneer. The walls, ceiling and countertops are concrete. The floors are recycled Australian timber nailed (to allow for removal) onto 120mm batten on a rubber pad to absorb noise. The idea is that bangs and scratches on the internal surfaces will only add to the aesthetic and improve the space over time. The Nightingale Housing model is all about sustainability and a community-led approach, keeping costs affordable in construction to reduce sale prices. They are expanding to other buildings and even a Nightingale Village. This is a model that could work well in the UK and other countries to build sustainable and healthy homes in tough markets.

Updated on 10 April 2018 to correct information on Melbourne’s climate (kindly provided by Rod Duncan).