It’s Summer Here In Canberra, So They Say!
By: Maria Rattray
Tags: Architectural Design, Environmental Impact, Innovative Technology, Solar Energy, Energy Efficiency

We came to Canberra a gazillion years ago. My husband promised me it would only be for two years. Not sure how many times you have to multiply two in order to get to a gazillion, but I know it’s a lot.

There’s much that I hated about Canberra, the cold winters, aye, even for a Scot, but I could live with that. But the home’s architecture? Meh! Anybody can design a box!

Bearing in mind it’s the nation’s capital, you’d think they could have taken some measures to remove the said architecture out of the bowels of ‘ordinary in the extreme’. But they didn’t, and they haven’t!

We had been living in Adelaide, home of delightful bluestone houses, and after much resistance on my part, we came to Canberra and ‘traded up’ to a mid-brown box, also known as a home.

Just imagine, if you will, one of the ubiquitous little boxes that Malvina Reynolds sang about, you know, the ones made of ticky-tacky, and you have ours! It’s all we could afford because we bought in the eye of a real estate storm. A north-facing (???), crappy structure that I swear was made of pine saplings still striving to live, expanding and contracting in tune with the seasons, complete with drafts that would put a sting in your eyes!

All these years later and nothing much has changed. That builder who built our house, is still building his houses, apartments mostly, more little boxes that are cracking, and bending in the wind. The residents have set up a class-action against him. But he’s dodged every bullet aimed at him so far, he’s divested his dough, probably sewn it into the linings of his coffin, and he continues to build, under the banner of reputable builders, while employing the cheapest ‘tradies’ he can find, behind the scenes.

Why do I tell you that?

Because, save for the odd inspirational builder, nothing much has changed in Canberra. Builders build boxes here. Sure some of them are bigger houses, some cost a veritable fortune, but few are oriented, not just to catch the sun, but also to be environmentally friendly. Double-glazing is creeping in, but it’s still a very slow crawl. Style remains elusive!

Why is it, when we worry about climate change, and water, and respurces, that builders are not mandated to build according to a set of environmental principles? Homes built here, all face the road with ne’er a thought to orientation. Many face due west, so we end up heating them up, or cooling them down, or planting trees, and locking ourselves in, just to survive.

We think little about our good ol’ friend, the sun…in Canberra where the sun shines almost ever day!

Yes, it’s hard to believe.

But there is a solution, a tried-and-tested one, that for some reason (and it’s not cash!), could have all those North Shore residents of Sydney, green with envy, give or take the ocean!

A rotating house!

If I could afford this rotating house, I wouldn’t be complaining about either winters in the capital, or its ugly homes. The house built by John Andriolo, a man with thirty years’ building experience behind him, was the realization of a dream.

When it was first built, the excitement here was palpable. Imagine a house where, on a day like today where it’s officially summer, (with a cauld wintry blast), you could chase the sun around, inch by inch, and be toasty warm, all within the confines of your home.

Sound like the stuff of dreams? That’s because it still pretty much, is!

‘The name Girasole originates from Italy: gira(re) means “to turn” and sole is the sun. Operated by a touch screen panel, the home can fully rotate in less than 10 minutes so you can rotate with the sun. It was original owner John Andriolo’s long held dream to construct Girasole before his retirement. As an award winning builder with over 30 years experience (MAG Constructions (ACT) P/L) John commissioned DNA Architects to bring the concept to life. The house that challenges thinking about how we live and what we build. The house is located on a corner plot looking out onto protected grasslands. It’s not unknown for drivers to pass the house, see it moving and accidentally drive into the kerb as the road turns the corner.’

Now we can’t all afford a house like ‘Jack’ built, but maybe we could utilize some of its principles.

‘Using a touch-screen panel it takes around 10 minutes for the 56-tonne home to do a full transformation, which can be set to run automatically to follow the sun’.

It takes about the same energy as a light globe to turn the house around due to its well-considered and energy-efficient construction.

Operating on two speeds (both of which are quite slow), the home can be set to follow the sun so that, depending on the season, the house can remain cool in summer and warm in winter. It takes advantage of the warmth the sun brings in winter, or avoids it in the cool shade of summer.

Views are always changing, and if you want a breeze, you can have one. If it gets too breezy, no worries, the system will shut down.

Need a bit of privacy? They’ve got you covered.

‘The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home uses virtually no energy or water bills thanks to the 24 solar panels and the 120,000L water tank, which creates its own drinking water.’

So what does all this say? Well, for me personally, if I could transport myself back in time, roughly a gazillion years, I’d become a lobbyist for change to the building practice. I would have my say about orientation, and style, and size, and any fair-minded Canberran would thank me for it!

In the meantime, I cherish the notion that one day, rotating, affordable, and smaller homes will be what we all gravitate towards. Our planet will be more able to breathe, our city will be a model to the rest of the world, and my sister will no longer be able to say:

“Why are you going to Canberra? There’s nothing there!”