2020 thank you!
We would like to send a huge thanks to everyone who has placed their trust in us, collaborated with us and helped us to do what we love doing: delivering, and spreading the word about… smaller, smarter, sustainable… clever, climate-resilient, comfortable… healthy, heart-warming… light-filled and light-footed homes.
Thank you also to 2020 for the challenges and forcing us to adapt and stretch!
Despite a very challenging year, the team at Light House has been busy at work, in the office, and in the broader community. In addition to our work on a wide variety of sustainable housing projects, we are very proud to have supported some fantastic initiatives in the Canberra region (and beyond). In 2020, we:
donated to Craft ACT’s Circle of Hands to support a new exhibition and professional development program CO:LAB for two chosen craft practitioner in 2021. The ‘call out’ for this exciting new program is open until 8th Feb 2021 – check it out and spread the word.
sponsored Sustainable House Day 2020.
provided in-kind support to the ACT Conservation Council’s ‘Make The Switch’ website which provides advice to help Canberra households switch from gas to electricity in their homes in a bid to save money on energy bills and cut emissions.
sponsored (and planted trees in) the Climate Factory’s Community Micro-Forest Pilot in Downer, a community initiated and community funded pilot revegetation project that cools the local landscape, creates habitat and provides hope for the future.
participated in and sponsored the ACT Conservation Council’s Spring Dinner in November.
provided seed funding for the Inner North Urban Farm which is establishing a network of backyard market gardens to improve food security and community life.
sponsored the University of Canberra’s Faculty of Arts and Design Graduate Exhibition (FADX).
donated to the University of Canberra’s Built Environment Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship - awarded to students from under-represented backgrounds studying Architecture, Design, Building and Construction, and Urban and Regional Planning.
pledged our support for the Watson Micro-forest project. We encourage you to check out this great initiative and help them reach their funding goals so that work can commence in 2021.
cheered loudly as we watched the community solar farm SolarShare Canberra (a project that we were seed investors in several years ago) being built. It is tantalizingly close to being switched on. Well done SolarShare!
At Light House we hope to inspire an audience much larger than our direct circle of clients, so we were also pleased to donate our time to communicate the science and architecture of sustainable housing via the following ‘live’ events:
a webinar for Renew on Retrofitting for Energy Efficiency and Comfort
the National Bushfire Conference where Sarah presented about the update to the 2003 'Planning and Design for Bushfire Protection' paper published by the Australian Institute of Architects that several members of our team have been working on.
Sanctuary magazine’s webinar about Jenny’s house Building a 'suburban beach house' in Canberra
Sustainable House Day’s webinar Getting off gas: creating a cost-effective and highly energy efficient all-electric home
a webinar for Bendigo Sustainability Group about clever co-housing projects that we have completed in Canberra.
Meet an Architect during the DESIGN Canberra Festival.
tours of our co-housing project in Rivett as part of the DESIGN Canberra Contemporary Architecture program.
the ACT Conservation Council’s Environment Exchange 2020 webinar about making the switch from gas to an all-electric home.
the Energy efficiency Council’s National Energy Efficiency Conference where Jenny took part in a panel discussion about the future of all-electric homes.
a CSIRO Energy webcast Renovating and Retrofitting for Sustainability (which will be available to watch in early in 2021)
Other things we did to be agents of positive change:
Sarah was a member of the Institute of Architects ACT Chapter Council.
Jenny continued being a volunteer co-admin at the free, Australia-wide (and beyond) Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home which has grown from 10,000 to 23,000 members in the last year and to contribute to the fabulous magazines Renew and Sanctuary.
She also continued to thoroughly enjoy her time as a volunteer member of the CraftACT Board of Management.
Finally…
we welcomed four new staff
our principal architect Sarah Lebner took out the national Emerging Architect Prize!
Now we rest (briefly) before kicking off in 2021 (well very soon, the final meeting for the year is happening as I write this at 4:40 pm on Christmas eve)! 😊
Safe, well and joyful wishes,
Jenny and the Light House team.
