James Pedersen
B.Arch (1998) NSW Architect Registration # 7866
Pedersen Architecture specialises in residential design.
We create places for people to live in, sleep in, work, rest, relax, grow and play in. We make human architecture: sit in the sun, warm materials, human scale, open up the north wall, a place to live.
Sustainability
Ecologically sustainable design is at the centre of the architectural design process, beginning with the scale and placement of the house. Each room is designed to the correct proportions of ergonomics and furniture, and arranged to minimise circulation and corridor space. The house is designed to maximise entry of winter sunlight, summer breezes, and indoor to outdoor connectivity, while considering the right balance between opening size and solid construction to optimise insulation and thermal mass. The design is organised around landform, trees and pre-existing built structures..
Sustainability can be defined as living within limits that the planet is able to absorb and sustain. In the case of CO2 emissions that limit is around 3 tonnes of emissions per person per year. Average Australians are responsible for around 18 tonnes of C02 per year, while globally the average human is responsible for around 4.5 tonnes per year.
In the case of ecologically sustainable design, the ideal is to produce a building that will have zero emissions in its running. Of course the original construction of a building is resource intensive and all buildings will have embodied energy. One strategy with sustainable architecture is to produce a building that will have negative emissions, where its photovoltaic solar panel energy generation will surpass the needs of its occupants and feed back into the grid. This negative emission infrastructure will offset the carbon footprint of the original construction.
Energy and offsetting is mathematically quantified in the design process and presented to each client.
Other aspects of ecological sustainability development such as rainwater harvesting and water efficiency, sewerage disposal, and sustainable material use are considered.
Economy
Spatial efficiency and ecologically sustainable infrastructure reduces construction costs, your project’s carbon footprint and promotes long-term user economy.
Building costs are not just the cost of construction but also running and maintenance costs over the lifetime of a dwelling. Photovoltaic power generation, double-glazing, increased insulation, generous roof overhangs and thermal mass construction will all eventually yield cost savings.
Technology
Pedersen Architecture uses Building Information Modelling (BIM) software to model the energy use and efficiency of each design project.
The software is used to determine the heating and cooling requirements of each new development, or in the case of renovations, the energy requirements of the pre-existing house versus improvements yielded by increasing the thermal performance of existing structure and the positive impacts made with the addition of the new energy efficient spaces.
This information is also used to determine the economic benefits of energy efficiency, for example, how long it would be expected to take for elements such as double glazing to recover its own cost when compared to a situation where cheaper, but less energy efficient, single glazing was installed.