International award winning Forest lodge Eco House. Code Green Pty Ltd was engaged to design and Designer Constructions Group Pty Ltd was engaged to build this contemporary ECO home on a vacant block in the heart of the Sydney’s heritage listed precinct. The theme was black and white, as the owner is a photographer working primarily in this medium. Designing every facet of the project, from the external façade, green roof, vertical gardens, interiors, fittings and furnishing enabled us to ensure that the philosophy of the design flowed seamlessly throughout every element of the project. As the surrounding properties reflected the history of the area, this house was to add to that timeline by not trying to recreate the past, but to forge its place in the present showcasing the best of contemporary design ideas. Forest Lodge ECO house is a three bedroom, two bathroom terrace and was built on one of the last remaining vacant land sites in the inner city with a width of only 4.9 meters and a modest land area of only 89m2. The façade was designed to not only reflect today’s modern architecture, but to blend in with its 140 year old frail neighbours. The brief was to create a sustainable ECO home that was not an eyesore to its surrounding heritage listed neighbours and create an illusion of space on this tiny plot while including modern luxuries where virtually the entire house is operated via any android device. Access to the site was via a narrow street restricted, of what could be designed and what could or could not be delivered to the site. As the adjoining neighbouring terrace was extremely fragile with risk of collapse, a strategical build scope had to be incorporated to consider not only the neighbouring building but also the safety of contactors on site. As the outer masonry walls of the building were being erected the structural steel crossbeams were also incorporated to act not only for future support for floor beams but to also permanently lock-in the neighbouring building. The concrete roof was the final brace required to anchor the buildings. Eco design principals were used to create intelligent innovative design. Many of the systems were custom designed and built specifically for this house, providing innovation not yet seen in Australia. Externally, vertical gardens feature strongly with the eight-meter high vertical garden adjacent to the equally high entrance door, which featured the client’s, own artistic work embossed into its surface. A 3,500-litre under ground water storage tank feeds not only the rooftop and vertical gardens, but also the rear garden’s centerpiece, a suspended table waterfall. Internally the illusion of space was created by using highly reflective surface finishes from the lineal flush finished wall mirrors to the black high gloss kitchen and the reflective black-mirrored ceiling. Floor to ceiling windows allowed light to flow and bounce around the highly reflective interior. The mirror like ceiling created an illusion of doubling the interior height. A Yin and Yang effect was created as the black ceiling paired with black kitchen opposing white polished concrete floor, which was paired with the white feature wall. A black floating triangular tube staircase lead to the upper level, which contained the main bathroom and three bedrooms. Grey and silver tones were carefully incorporated to soften and blend the design of these very personal spaces, without compromising the integrity of the black and white theme. The bathrooms use black mosaic tiles on all floors with a custom pattern where the walls would start as solid black at the base and increase the amount of white mosaic as the walls reached the ceiling. Sliding doors allowed for maximum space within the toilet and bathroom. The ground floor incorporated a full width electric fold-up rear door increasing the internal living space. Sustainability was maximised by passive solar design; underground water storage tank; low E double glazing; LED lighting throughout; energy efficient fittings and gas appliances. Offsite we recreated the environment of the green roof to test plant species and ensure that the species selected were truly sustainable. By this I mean there are no requirements for third party intervention to support and maintain the life of the plants, in turn creating a sustainable ecosystem. Natural light penetration was created via skylights and the use of opaque glass inserts in all internal doors. The finished building stands as testament to current design, complimenting the neighbouring heritage terraces and placing it in the urban history of the city of Sydney. Forest lodge Eco House won 13 International and national, design, environmental and construction awards it has been featured on the television series Grand Designs Australia, Australia's best houses and Better Homes & Gardens. It was also officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.