Kitchen
The position of the sink was set because it had to back onto the central service ducts where the plumbing and the drains are located and the design pays close attention to creating a neat work triangle so that the three essential areas, the sink, the hot plates and the fridge are close at hand. The design includes an eye-level dishwasher next to the sink drainer.
Underneath the sink drainer, a drawer opens to reveal four small plastic waste bins allowing rubbish can be separated at source. In the utility room, there are larger storage bins that can take a week's separated waste. Many local authorities are now organising collections for separated waste and the Integer house has taken green waste disposal to its logical conclusion by incorporating waste management into the kitchen design.
The kitchen appliances have all been sourced from Electrolux, the Swedish holding company that is currently the world's largest white goods group. It includes the brand names Zanussi and AEG. Reflecting the spirit of the Integer project as a whole, the theme of the new Electrolux kitchen appliances is part green, part intelligent.
Each of the standard appliances has been subjected to an environmental analysis and improvements have been been designed in. For instance, by improving the overall performance of a washing machine, Electrolux calculate that a British household doing eight cycles a week could save £1,300 over a ten year period. Hit a delay button and the machine will decide when to come on to take advantage of low tariff electricity: the rate changes are broadcast by radio, received by an energy meter in the house and transmitted down the regular power cables to the machine. By re-engineering the machine, Electrolux has been able to halve the standard water and detergent use without any detrimental effects on the wash.
The most innovative appliance in the range is the ceramic hob. Before it can work with an individual pan, the pan has to be calibrated: an unrecognised pan will not turn on the hob (although there is a manual override). However, once a pan is calibrated, it can be precisely controlled by the hob to ensure the pan contents do not get any hotter and reduce the water vapour from boiling vegetables.
Living over the bedrooms
The traditional logic of placing bedrooms upstairs has been that it is convenient to have the living spaces (where most time is spent) on the same level as the main access to the house, but here you have a house with access on two levels so this logic no longer applies. Furthermore, being submerged on three sides, the bottom floor doesn't enjoy the open aspects of the top two storeys and this makes it more suitable to use as bedroom space Another interesting aspect of the layout is that the laundry functions are located next to the bedrooms on the ground floor level. Not only does this make good use of an area with no natural light, but its also a sensible spot for laundry - i.e. close to the bedrooms. To take advantage of low tariff electricity, the machines were intended to be run in the dead of night but the test family reported the noise disturbed their sleep but still thought it a good concept.
The conservatory is single glazed - representing something of a change from previously built passive solar structures which used double glazing. It was felt that overheating has been a problem in some of these homes and attention here has been paid to controlling the solar gained heat.
Passive stack principles have been applied throughout the house - including building-in details like louvred fanlights over the doorways. Passive solar structures, especially ones using huge amounts of glass on south facing elevations, are still a relatively new technology and each structure adds to the knowledge base on how best to detail them. Single glazing, for instance, is felt to be more controllable, but it is not yet completely clear how it will be effected by condensation.
Wall to wall
The wall separating two of the ground floor bedrooms is movable. It was developed by British Gypsum as a prototype. Rather than being built up from the ground in the manner of conventional walls, this one actually hangs from a series of ceiling rails.
The wall consists of a number of quite separate panels and these are fixed in place by tensioning a bolt at the base: the demountable skirting is then screwed in to lock the wall as a whole. This enables the wall to be set in any position between the two doors or to turn the two bedrooms into one large one.
During the filming of the programme, the family actually does this as an exercise one evening.
While moving walls around is not envisaged as something which would happen regularly it does represent an innovative approach to the use of space in housing.
As households change through time, demands on space are likely to alter and this type of product gives a degree of flexibility. Changing internal room sizes can be accomplished in halt an hour without any need to redecorate.
Source
Building Homes
