Durban North Coast Beach Shack - Sustainable Construction Case Study

The site is located within a highly environmentally sensitive zone, just 30 m from the beach. There were overarching environmental considerations during the planning and construction phases, in addition to the design, building typography, and system/materials selection being of prime importance to a humid subtropical climate.

Challenges:

  • Independent consultants performed an EIA. It included struct assessments of how the property design and building could impact the land and cause minimal disruption. 

  • The house sits on concrete stilts on a floating slab 1.8 m above ground level. This facilitates airflow for mass cooling in summer.

  • The building footprint was minimised to have the least impact on the site. The second floor cantilevers the smaller first floor, which is raised off the ground

  • Water usage during the build was kept to a minimum due to the shuttering of the concrete with no mixing required on site and the usage of lightweight dry construction materials from Saint-Gobain.

  • Rainwater is harvested into two tanks under the house, further supporting low water consumption.

See the PDF for more. 

Weber Tylon® Products and Systems :

 

Key Achievements 

  • Indoor environments perform better for acoustic and thermal comfort while promoting required passive fire safety.

  • Aesthetically pleasing spaces.

  • Wall-mounted fixtures properly fixed to the walls: “We absolutely do believe that the right
    choices were made as we considered every detail of the interior layout of wall fixtures and applications”.

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