The Illawarra Flame House demonstrates how a creative approach to sustainable design benefits from a competitive edge.

Leading textile supplier INSTYLE this week announces their support of the Illawarra Flame House by Team UOW (University of Wollongong), which is the first and only Australian team to be selected to compete at a Solar Decathlon.

The prestigious global competition, described as the ‘Energy Olympics’, is the largest sustainable building research and innovation competition in the world, which sees teams designing, building and operating net-zero energy, solar-powered houses.

The Illawarra Flame is a unique and exciting concept. The University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra students transformed the traditional – but energy draining – Aussie 1950’s ‘fibro’ house into an energy neutral house. It is the first design in the history of the competition to address the imperative of upgrading the country’s existing housing stock by retrofitting an existing house.
The house includes a number of features including pre-fabricated pods, which contains the energy efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, electrical and water systems, and sustainable finishes such as INSTYLE’s benchmark LIFE Textiles® collection upholstered onto recycled furniture.

This August in Datong, China, Team UOW will compete against the world’s best teams in ten events including one that will test the Illawarra Flame’s liveability and energy efficiency such as cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, watching a movie, hosting a dinner party as well as the marketability and affordability of the house.

INSTYLE’s support of Team UOW represents a real opportunity where design can make a difference in providing practical and sustainable solutions, as well as transforming existing houses into stylish, affordable and sustainable homes for the future.

Illawarra Flame House

illawarraflame.com.au

INSTYLE

instyle.com.au