Building an environmentally friendly home is a must for many people these days, not only do we want to be kind to our environment during the building process but we also want that to continue after we move in. Including environmentally friendly items in your Palm Springs architects home plans is far easier that you might initially think.
The siting and design of your home is key to the environmentally friendly home, ensuring your architectural home plans include climate sensitive design where the position of the home is maximised to benefit from heat absorption from direct sun and minimising exposure to harsh winds. These two things alone can have a major impact on the heating and cooling efficiency of your home.
Once you have the orientation set then the materials you will use to build your home come into play. Concrete and brick are known for their high thermal mass which means they absorb heat during the day and release it at night, having a concrete foundation and block walls will greatly ensure the climate control of your home, if you don’t wish to build your entire house in block, perhaps include a few feature spaces that will benefit from maximum sun exposure in your architectural home plans.
Installing solar panels in your roof will also ensure you gain maximum benefit from the sun and this then flows through to savings in heating and power and if you team your solar panels with a heat recovery ventilation system you will maximise the climate control in your home.
Water efficiency can also be taken into account when you are designing your house, installing a water tank is a great idea if you are able to accommodate this on your property and there are many stylish designs available so you don’t have to be stuck with an eye sore. Installing water efficient appliances and fittings will also greatly benefit the environment. Ask about low-flow showers and ultra-low flush toilets and the use of grey water for irrigation.
Power is something that is not often thought of during the building process however including energy efficient ideas in your architectural home plans will ensure that when you are living your home you are not having to turn lights on unnecessarily due to an area not having enough natural light because of poor planning. Installing energy efficient lighting will also help and with the progress in design there are some stylish options to choose from.
dsigna Concepts is a professional architectural design and draughting services company based in New Plymouth, Taranaki on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. We deliver services from architectural design to council permit drawings. With the use of computer-aided design programs, we not only offer 2D drawings, but also computer generated 3D images. As well as servicing our local market with custom architectural house design services, we also offer a searchable online database of architecturally designed house/home plans, available to anyone in New Zealand. Looking for Architectural Home Plans? Contact our Architectural Designers today.
