Modern Houses in Darwin

The modern current type of design for houses in Darwin seems to have forgotten many of the guiding principles of design for the region. And a black or charcoal grey roof is not a smart idea in this climate!

They tend to be heavy in construction- brick or block and on a concrete slab on the ground; with poor flow through ventilation; often with poor insulation, particularly in the roof space; poor orientation so that the prevailing SE or N /NW breezes are missed; small windows, often that cannot be opened adequately so that the effective opening is less than 50% of the glass areas, and often too with little or no outdoor roofed space that could be utilised for outdoor living. Higher costs partly drives some of these - eg outdoor areas, and often these do get added later.

However, with this type of design - probably more appropriate for a temperate climate - you are needing to seriously consider airconditioning, to make the house habitable.

Yes, there are some other considerations now. People say that household security is improved with this current design. I am unconvinced, as adequate security can be built into for example louvred windows with full openings by using cross bars that are unobtrusive, and anyway, residents often add serious heavy security screens anyway on the outside.......more costs.

Some of the houses can be attractive inside, but I wonder if this is just pandering to newcomers to the region who "expect" houses just like Melbourne, Sydney or Perth. This climate demands a different type of house design.

There are some excellent architects locally in north Australia - with their design offerings seen from Brisbane north and through to Darwin. Suitable aesthetics, good design and well suited to handle both the wet and dry sectors of the local weather. These do not necessarily exclude airconditioning, but rather use it to moderate conditions eg at night in the bedrooms or to supplement in the hot weather in November and December, or for an office. With modern inverter air con systems operating costs are modest if used in conjunction with well designed buildings, and obviously not needed in the dry season.

The other type of "southern" house still needs airconditioning in the cooler dry season weather, as they do not use the cooler dry season breezes well, due to poor cross flow.

Apart from solar HWS, which are very common on new and even older houses, there is little use of solar PV systems, except in Alice Springs, where there is support from the Solar Cities Program. One local Darwin house estimates that their PV system still produces about 75% of output in the wet season compared to dry season output which is higher. So it is feasible. But few seem to care.

There has been little use of water management systems, although many do run their washing machine in to the back garden [ not always legal though].

Superior design can be effective, and cost effective, but it seems that many do not seem to understand what it really means to have a house design that is well suited to the climate.

Our own house is a post Cyclone Tracy built house in a time when it was difficult to really do what was best design wise as the pressure to build was intense. However, cross flow air, solar HWS, fans in bathrooms, light colurs, tiled floors reduced thermal load on external walls and roof, high grade insulation in the E and W walls, well oriented to catch the breeze and similar had to part of the design and there is little we would change now.

We do have air conditioning in the bedrooms, but it is used predominantly at night.