The Dreamers #54 - With Pepper Tree Passive House

November 11, 2022

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Written by

The Dreamers #54 - With Pepper Tree Passive House

November 11, 2022

·

Written by

For our latest Dreamers, we take you through the impressive Pepper Tree Passive House. A unique, architecturally designed home set against the stunning backdrop of Mount Kembla. We chat with owner Ame about this state of the art eco-house that is like no other.

WELCOME TO THE DREAMERS.

COME INSIDE THE HOMES OF EVERYDAY FAMILIES AND BUSINESS OWNERS DOING LIFE THEIR WAY.

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Hi Ame. Tell us a little bit about your rad fam.

We are a family of five that love adventures and nature. Our party consists of me Ame (pronounced Amy), my partner Adam who was the owner/builder on the project, and our kid’s Jack, Frankie and River, plus our dog Revelstoke.

Okay, you guys have built something AMAZING. Tell us about Pepper Tree Passive House. Why did you build it? Where is it?

Pepper Tree Passive House is an experimental build to show people that we can build smaller without compromising on functionality or architectural aesthetics and with the environment instead of against it.

We have built a state of the art Passiv Haus (German Building Technology) that uses 90% less electricity to heat and cool your house compared to a standard Aussie home. It is located one hour south of Sydney in the leafy Wollongong suburb of Unanderra.

Alex, who was the architect for this project, is incredibly talented. Fact. Were you always drawn towards sustainable buildings?

Adam has always had a passion for sustainable building that has been drawn from his love of surfing and spending a huge amount of time living and camping in national parks all around the world.

Is Pepper Tree Passive House a family affair?

Pepper Tree Passive House is a multi-mode house. It’s used as Souter Built’s company home office during the week, a parent’s retreat during the evenings, a friends and family accommodation when needed, and we also have it available on Airbnb on the weekend for people to experience a Passive House/Tree House.

Have you always been passionate about sustainability and making your impact smaller through everyday necessities like a house?

Our passion for recycling and sustainability has been derived from our love of nature and national parks with the simple motto of “Leave No Trace”. This is ingrained into our everyday building practice.

Don’t get me wrong, building is a very hard industry to be sustainable as there are so many easy single-use products that can be implemented into a house, but we have a holistic approach of build for 100 years and then can the building be broken down and recycled after it’s time?

Your home won a Sustainable Architecture Award! Tell us a little bit about what this means and your feelings when you received it.

We have won the Sustainable Architecture award, and we are also nominated for the Excellence in Sustainability Award from the Master Builders. These are such great recognitions of the labour of love that we have put into this project. For a builder to win both Architecture and Building awards for the same project means we are building and working in harmony to create such amazing results.

And finally, how can people stay at this incredible house!?

Yes, it’s available to experience on Airbnb. Funnily enough, we have actually had a fair few wedding proposals, so we might change the name to Pepper Tree “Will you marry me?” Passive House!

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