The Clovelly House completed in 2005 which, apart from a broad range of other environmental criteria, set new standards for water recycling in urban domestic architecture, including the invention of the world’s first vertical grey water treatment system.
The house has won five awards, been published throughout the world and is featured on the NSW Government’s BASIX website.
It remains the benchmark project for demonstrating reuse of water in a domestic setting in Australia.
The qualitative approaches to sustainability demonstrated in the Clovelly House can best de
described as the “design” aspects which also encompasses the intangible aspects of the house
such as feelings of well being and security. The house includes provisions that allow a wheelchair
person to remain in occupation of the house, such as the pool for hydrotherapy and the stair-
climbing platform.
The house tries to address the questions like ‘how does it feel to be in this space? How will the
play of natural light, materials, colours and textures create a rich living experience for the user?
What makes a delightful place and how will the design foster the capacity to contain, create and
sustain memories?’. The Clovelly House makes it all accessible, approachable and available to a
small house; in a typical urban situation through an alterations and additions project. We have all
the data, technologies, information we require. What is needed now is an integrative approach to
use them. It demonstrates that it is possible, here and now. Every sustainable development is
also a development of the idea of sustainability. And Clovelly House has certainly proved to be a
unique development in developing the idea of sustainability.
However, the Clovelly House is not the final answer, it is just the beginning. It gives us more
directions and shows more opportunities for future.