Building Type

Ed & Amanda lost everything when bushfires swept through Steels Creek. Determined to stay with the land they love, they built a subterranean home embedded in the landscape with only one side facing the outside world.

Large sections of the house were in complete darkness, with a serious challenge on their hands Ed and Amanda approached Diamond Skylights looking for a Daylight Solution.

Video

Objective

Ed and Amanda wanted to bring natural daylight into the rear areas of the house, comprising two bathrooms, one laundry and a storage area. This was to be achieved using concrete turrets that had been built onto the concrete roof of the structure.

Their overall objectives with this project were:

To bring daylight into the 4 back areas of the home

To have the solution bush fire & weather proof

To add to the Energy Rating of the home

Products used

Solatube Daylighting – The Brighten up Series
4 x 160DS (Daylighting System) with 1800mm long 250mm diameter Infinity tubing
Custom Colorbond Flashings to suit roof penetrations.
Solatube’s Raybender Dome to enhance light capture
Bush Fire add-on Kits
Vusion Diffuser

Solution

The Brighten Up Series by Solatube was the perfect product for this job, as it fitted the 250mm openings Ed had prepared in his concrete roof.

The 160DS is extremely versatile. It maximises light transfer, and minimises heat transfer, in this case the tubes were up to 1.8 metres long, well within the 160DS's maximum range of 6 metres.

We built a custom colorbond flashing system for them, that housed solatubes reinforced glazing disc to protect against bushfires and be completely weather proof.

We designed the flashing with the added benefit of lining the internal surface of the concrete tower with a reflective material to maximise light transfer through the system and finished the system off with the Solatube Raybender Dome which enhances light capture.

From the wide range of diffusers available Ed and Amanda chose the Vusion diffuser to best compliment the decor of their new home.
Results:

Each of the rooms now have wonderful natural daylight from dawn to dusk, even though the house is completely underground. This has been achieved with a low cost daylighting system that is both maintenance free and energy efficient.

For more information about this amazing Grand Design visit their website: Grand Designs Episode 10 - Solatube

Testimonial

“…this house has more natural light than any other home we have ever lived in! Even on dark winter days extra light is rarely needed.

We are totally thrilled with the ease of living that this house provides and your solar tubes are an integral part of all this.”
Ed & Amanda
Steels Creek Earth House

Grand Designs TV Show