A Hobart practice that measures what it builds.
We specialise in environmentally sustainable and ethical architecture, including houses and small-scale public and commercial buildings. We have been based in Hobart for over twenty years, and we love Tasmania and the particular challenges its climate poses.
Our studio is the proof.
A single-room office built to Passive House principles on a constrained triangular block: 8.7 stars, triple glazed tilt/turn windows, heat recovery ventilation and 5.8 kW of solar. It exports more power than it imports, and it can become a small home later.
True carbon zero, not just a low power bill.
We can now quantify the embodied carbon in any building, and we know we can design true carbon zero buildings.
That means a building that is operationally carbon zero, with all of its energy use through the year covered by renewable power (usually rooftop solar), and that also pays back its embodied energy to the grid as renewable power. Our studio is one such building. We aim to make every building we design carbon neutral by 2050.
Our houses are generally over 8 stars, an optimum for energy efficiency and economy. Our in-house energy expert uses energy rating tools to forecast each home’s heating requirements and improve its performance.
3D modelling lets clients explore a building before it exists. We can model sun penetration at any time of day and year, and the view from a particular window. No building should be a surprise for its owner while it is being built.
Design principles
Energy efficiency, through passive solar design and effective insulation. Low embodied energy. A light touch on the site, and close attention to its views and landscape. Water conservation. Healthy, ethically sourced materials, built well. Flexibility for the future, resilience to a changing climate, long life and low maintenance. And low entropy: buildings that can be taken apart and reused.
Our people.
Uta Green
Director. Registered architect. Dipl.-Ing. Architektur; Bachelor of Architecture.
With a head start in research and consultation in Germany and Austria around the turn of the century, Uta has been dedicated to sustainable architecture all her professional life. She sits on the Tasmanian Renew committee and the Australian Institute of Architects’ Tasmanian ESD Committee, is involved with Sustainable Living Tasmania, and tutors architecture students at the University of Tasmania.
David Green
Director. Bachelor of Arts (Environmental Design); Bachelor of Architecture; Associate Diploma of Art, Craft and Design (Furniture Design).
David has worked as an architect for 40 years in Tasmania, Adelaide and London, and established Green Design in 2001. He has worked in heritage conservation and restoration, education and aged care design, and as a bushwalking guide on the Overland Track. He enjoys being on the tools whenever possible.
Scott Christensen
Bachelor of Architecture (Hons); Bachelor of Planning and Design. Registered teacher.
Scott has 25 years of experience in residential, education, community and tourism buildings, and has taught design, drawing and sustainable design at the UTAS School of Architecture and TAFE Tasmania for 20 years.
Rebecca Boyle
Thermal Performance and Energy Efficiency Assessor. BPharm (Hons), PhD.
Rebecca is an accredited Thermal Performance and Residential Scorecard Assessor. She moved into home energy assessment in 2006 out of concern for the climate, and has since helped hundreds of households improve energy efficiency, comfort and running costs.
Shannon Terry
Graduate Architect. Bachelor of Environments; Master of Architecture.
Shannon recently completed her studies at the University of Tasmania, where her work won first place in the National Trust Tasmania Prize and the Outstanding Science Prize for the Biodesign Sprint. She worked in landscape architecture before joining Green Design.
Uta and David Green are the practice’s directors. Call the studio in South Hobart to talk about your site.