Aldinga - new settlement in an old landscape

Not only is the home's roof insulated against the hot South Australian summers, so too are the walls which consist of what Elizabeth calls a “reverse brick veneer”. On the outside is rendered blueboard; inside which has air-cell insulation - it's like bubble wrap mounted on rigid panels. The hollow-core concrete bricks, rendered in a pale yellow reminiscent of the dessicated-looking countryside seen through the window, are on the inside. With the exception of those carrying conduit, the hollow cores have been infilled with concrete to increase their thermal mass and hence their ability to insulate the interior of the house from the heat of the summer or cold of winter.

Utility rooms, such as laundry and bathroom, have been placed on the western side of the house, further insulating the main living areas from late afternoon sun in summer. On the sunward side, the eaves are of just the right width to admit warming sunlight into the interior as the season moves into winter. There, the heat of sunlight is stored in solid, thermal mass floors which release the heat energy as the evening cools, reducing the need for supplementary heating.

Elizabeth's house is no McMansion - it is of modest-size and is a high-performance dwelling suitable for two. Whether in the heat of summer or the cool of winter her house is comfortable, and unlike those unfortunate homes in that subdivision closer to Aldinga, Elizabeth's attracts much lower energy bills. In fact, the energy authority pays her for power derived from the array of photo-electric panels on her roof. Elizabeth is data-logging the thermal performance of her building to assess its year-round performance.

A compact melange of homes

Aldinga Arts Eco-village is a compact melange of architectural styles but common to all is energy and water efficient design. As well as reverse brick veneer, houses are made of building materials such as timber plank, galvanised iron, timbercrete - a sawdust and concrete brick - and the economical, but durable, rendered straw-bale. Architecturally, they are of modern design, reflecting the type of people who live in the village - middle-class professionals and service workers, artists and tradespeople.

The eco-village is close to job markets, specialist services and the big-city amenities of metropolitan Adelaide including the suburban train network which terminates only ten or so kilometres away at Noralunga Centre. Aldinga Arts is also close to Aldinga township and the beach. It demonstrates in a most practical way that affordable, energy and water efficient housing of differing size, suited to the full range of modern Australian families, does not need to result in urban sprawl but can offer the benefits of private home ownership in a village-like atmosphere.

For Stephen Poole it has been a long journey from Burra to Aldinga, a move away from the drylands to the sea. But Stephen is not yet ready to move onto his lot in the village - he still lives in town.

Every now and then, though, when driving through the village, he stops his ute at his vacant lot, gets out and, fittingly for someone who likes to catch the occasional wave, looks towards the blue waters of St Vincents Gulf, just over a kilometre away.