Architecture
Eco Living
Designer Profile: Luigi Rosselli on Passive Solar Design
This leading architecture firm is being asked to include sustainable design elements in more homes now than ever before
Luigi Rosselli of Luigi Rosselli Architects designs some of the most refined solutions for living. Here he shares his views on how to create a practical design brief and more.
What are the three most important things to consider when designing a home?
Comfort, practicality and aesthetics.
Entrance of Luigi Rosselli Architects
Comfort, practicality and aesthetics.
Entrance of Luigi Rosselli Architects
How should a client form a brief for their home?
If the client is considering alterations and additions to an existing property rather than a brand-new build, they should think about how they use the existing space they have, with attention given to what doesn’t work for them currently and what they would like done to improve their interaction with their home.
They should also have a firm idea of what they really love about their current home, and what they would like to retain in any new design.
Balancing Home
If the client is considering alterations and additions to an existing property rather than a brand-new build, they should think about how they use the existing space they have, with attention given to what doesn’t work for them currently and what they would like done to improve their interaction with their home.
They should also have a firm idea of what they really love about their current home, and what they would like to retain in any new design.
Balancing Home
For all types of projects, providing [the architect with] a strong indication of the kind of aesthetic – modern, contemporary, traditional – you would like to achieve helps in focusing a design. It also helps to give the architect an insight into your family life besides the material considerations. How do you live with each other? What do you like to do as a family? What are your hobbies and interests? Also, you should try to have a realistic budget in mind from the outset, as this is the single biggest factor that will affect what may be achieved.
Finally, create two lists, one containing the elements you consider essential to any design and one detailing the items that would be nice to have, but are by no means essential or that can be jettisoned from the design if it looks like the budget might be blown.
Beach House On Stilts
Finally, create two lists, one containing the elements you consider essential to any design and one detailing the items that would be nice to have, but are by no means essential or that can be jettisoned from the design if it looks like the budget might be blown.
Beach House On Stilts
What’s the first thing you do when you need to prune the budget for a project?
Review the client’s list of non-essential inclusions, and reconsider the material choices.
Hill Top Cottage
Review the client’s list of non-essential inclusions, and reconsider the material choices.
Hill Top Cottage
What’s the one thing you always include in a project?
Passive solar and light design, solar panels, water conservation measures, and easy transitions between indoors and outdoors. We are also being asked more and more to include the option to install Tesla batteries.
Paddington Terrace House
Passive solar and light design, solar panels, water conservation measures, and easy transitions between indoors and outdoors. We are also being asked more and more to include the option to install Tesla batteries.
Paddington Terrace House
Who is an established Australian architect/designer you admire?
John Wardle and Renato D’Ettorre.
Sticks and Stones House
John Wardle and Renato D’Ettorre.
Sticks and Stones House
Who is an emerging Australian architect/designer to watch?
William Smart and Raffaello Rosselli.
The Great Wall of WA
William Smart and Raffaello Rosselli.
The Great Wall of WA
Do you prefer a big or small home, and why?
I always encourage quality over quantity.
I always encourage quality over quantity.
Which is best, high-tech or low-tech, and why?
Sydney Opera House designer Jorn Utzon said that you should use technology once it has been tested for long enough to guarantee it is fit for purpose and longevity, therefore it depends on the type of technology.
Technology designed to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of your home should be considered an important aspect of any design. And there are some technological elements that are now essential in modern home designs, integrated network cabling and USB ports for example. But full home automation or ‘connected homes’ should definitely be on your ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘essential’ list as, if the system fails for any reason, it has the potential to render your home unliveable.
Heritage and Modernity House
Sydney Opera House designer Jorn Utzon said that you should use technology once it has been tested for long enough to guarantee it is fit for purpose and longevity, therefore it depends on the type of technology.
Technology designed to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of your home should be considered an important aspect of any design. And there are some technological elements that are now essential in modern home designs, integrated network cabling and USB ports for example. But full home automation or ‘connected homes’ should definitely be on your ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘essential’ list as, if the system fails for any reason, it has the potential to render your home unliveable.
Heritage and Modernity House
What’s your favourite room in the home, and why?
I don’t have a favourite room in the home; the beauty of a well-designed home is how each space interacts with the others to provide the residents a place that gives them a sense of comfort and safety, and an escape from the stresses of increasingly hectic lives. This is the ethos of humanist design.
The Pool House
I don’t have a favourite room in the home; the beauty of a well-designed home is how each space interacts with the others to provide the residents a place that gives them a sense of comfort and safety, and an escape from the stresses of increasingly hectic lives. This is the ethos of humanist design.
The Pool House
What do you do?
Design homes, hospitality and public spaces with a focus on the human.