One of a Kind Apartments, a family project in Dickson, will open their doors for Canberrans looking for inspiration on sustainable living and design, as part of Sustainable House Day today.
The apartment complex, located on 43 Stockdale Street, is based around a holistic approach to sustainable design using recycled and re-purposed materials, featuring a greenhouse, communal vegie patch and xeriscape gardens.
Designer and developer of the "One of a Kind Apartments" project, Stuart Forsyth, says environmental sustainability is at the core of his values and beliefs, and has motivated the design of these apartments.
"In fact, we are Canberra's first 8.0 EER energy rating multi-unit development, which is very cool considering our development still fits nicely into the neighbourhood," he says.
Outdoor spaces are a prominent feature of the apartments.
"We have designed native xeriscape gardens for our drought-ridden summers. This not only provides much-needed habitat for native birds and fauna, but also a relaxing and natural environment. A lovely big greenhouse has recently been installed, which will be a great environment to grow seasonal produce, and warm up in our cold winters."
Another feature of the apartments is the use of old recycled materials throughout the building.
"My training in Zen Buddhism teaches me to waste nothing and make the most out of every opportunity. Old recycled corrugated iron, some of which dates back to the 1860s, is a feature of the apartments, and is used as upper floor cladding and in courtyard walls".
The complex of apartments continues as a family project, now operating as short- and long-stay serviced apartments.
"In keeping with the eco-friendly and artistic nature of the design, we have eclectically and creatively styled the apartment using repurposed estate furniture. Each apartment is accented with a different colour of the rainbow and each celebrates one of the world's creative cities. Ultimately, we want our guest's stay at the apartments to be a special experience introducing them to Canberra's unique aesthetic and its creative culture and contributing to a positive view of our city," Forsyth says.
One of a Kind Apartments, at 43 Stockdale Street, Dickson, will be open to the public today from 10am to 4pm. They will be collecting gold coin donations to support Canberra based, not-for-profit organisation Abundant Water. Abundant Water provides low-cost and low-tech water filtration systems for remote communities in Laos (www.abundantwater.org).
