Petrie Terrace, Brisbane · Completed 2022
39S House
A worker's cottage reworked by questioning the assumption that improvement requires more.
19th-century worker's cottage retained
7.7 NatHERS
100% net renewable
Energy positive
Thermal performance
7.7
NatHERS stars
Heating + cooling
7.9
kWh/m²/year
Heating
4.1 kWh/m²/y
4.1 kWh/m²/y
Cooling
3.8 kWh/m²/y
3.8 kWh/m²/y
163.6 m²
conditioned
conditioned
174.3 m²
assessed
assessed
Whole-of-life carbon
39S compared with the LCA benchmark over a 55-year service life.
39S
−16.8
tCO₂e
Benchmark
+416.7
tCO₂e
0
Upfront embodied
41.8 t
benchmark 47.9 t · 12.7% lower
Total embodied
104.7 t
benchmark 102.6 t · 2.0% higher
Operational carbon
−121.5 t
benchmark +314.1 t
Whole-of-life
−16.8 t
benchmark +416.7 t
Operational performance against benchmark
Grey = benchmark (100%). Colour = 39S as a percentage of that benchmark.
Energy use
38.5%
Heating
9.8%
Cooling
68.2%
Renewable generation40.77 kWh/m²/year
benchmark 0.01
benchmark 0.01
LCA model; values shown on the current 174 m² area basis using the report’s per-m² intensities.
Situation
The house already held value.
The question was not simply how to make it bigger. It was how a small worker's cottage could become more comfortable, quieter, more useful and better connected to climate and garden while retaining what was already worth keeping.
Western exposure and stadium noise were real constraints. Northern light, ventilation and the existing fabric were opportunities.
Decision
Make the existing house work harder.
Living spaces were reoriented. Western protection was strengthened while northern light and ventilation were invited deeper into the house. Reclaimed glass and retained materials carry existing resources forward rather than treating newness as value.
Performance
Enough performance, considered as a whole.
The project balances passive design, envelope performance, material impact and on-site renewable energy rather than allowing a single rating to become the objective. The result is energy positive in operation while remaining attentive to the resources already embodied in the house.
Why it matters
Putting the practice's values into a built outcome.
39S is also NADA's own home. That made cost, comfort, reuse, maintenance and long-term responsibility lived decisions rather than abstract positions. It became a way to test what sufficiency could mean in practice.