Guests are encouraged to use the ground floor TV and Sun-Lounge areas. We, your hosts will use a separate facility upstairs on the mezzanine. It must be noted that the open plan nature of the building means that we will necessarily be around. This requires a certain flexibility on your part, we shall give you space and respect your privacy, but we cannot become invisible!
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The 6m tall x 4m wide South window combined with thermal mass in the floor, walls and chimney breast is a major contributor to the solar heating of the house, raising the internal temperature by a typical 7 deg.C over the outside ambient temperature. In consequence, the house requires about 35% of the space heating of an equivalent size conventional build. This winter we have converted the oil central heating into a hybrid arrangement with an air-sourced heat-pump carrying the bulk of the workload, supplemented by oil only when necessary. A recent project in which we added solar panels to the outdoor Jacuzzi will take time to evaluate, but first signs are promising. See the architects' website and article about this house at http://www.ecoarc.co.uk/case-study8_Rochester.html first published in 'Build It' magazine January 2006 . We regret that the jacuzzi is undergoing repairs and is unavailable.
