Katrina Lee’s 8.3-Star Home

Perched in inland New South Wales, Katrina Lee’s new home in Wagga Wagga is a considered response to climate, lifestyle and long-term performance. Katrina, an interior designer with a background in advertising and marketing and a long-standing presence in the Australian design community, approached this build with clarity and intent. In many ways the project is a personification of her industry experience and personal design sensibilities, and was envisioned as a way to apply the skills and lessons from years of designing for others back into her own home.

A defining pillar within that experience is an emphasis on how architecture can directly support lifestyle within a home. Katrina had clear goals of creating a home where the materials, layout and finishes all made the interior feel grounded and calming.

When I started planning our new build, I knew one thing for sure. I wanted this house to feel calm, structured, and healthy. Life gets busy and a home should support you, not drain you. That is what pushed me toward an 8 star energy rating. It is not just a number. It is comfort, wellness, and long term savings wrapped into one smart plan.

– Katrina Lee, My Plan for Building an 8 Star Home and what it really takes

Katrina aimed for the project to achieve an 8.3-star rating under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). NatHERS ratings reflect how efficiently a home’s design responds to the local climate around it, and it judges the volume of energy required to maintain interior comfort year-round. Homes rated 8 stars and above require low heating and cooling energy, which significantly lowers running costs and environmental impact compared to lower ranked builds. In inland locations like Wagga Wagga where the summers are dry and intensely hot, and winters are crisp, windy and sharp, the choice to include products and systems that support this rating is a forward-thinking way to ensure lower running costs and much higher comfort for decades to come.  

NatHERS is Australia’s way of rating how energy-efficient a home’s design is, from 0 to 10 stars. The more stars, the less energy needed to keep your home comfortable all year round. An 8-star rating means my home requires very little heating or cooling to stay comfortable.

– Katrina Lee, How I Achieved an 8-Star NatHERS Rating for My New Home in Australia

NatHERS itself measures the thermal performance of a construction comparing its orientation, layout, insulation and airflow, modelling how the home will react to seasonal conditions and how much energy it will need to maintain comfort (NatHERS star ratings provide information about the thermal performance of a home).  Foundational decisions like optimising the home’s orientation with north-facing living spaces (maximising winter solar gain and mitigating summer heat) were guided by the NatHERS standards.

In a well insulated, airtight build, airflow helps regulate temperature and reduces reliance on heating and cooling…
…Ceiling fans are often treated as a finishing touch, but in an energy efficient home they are an essential part of keeping spaces comfortable.

– Katrina Lee, Why Ceiling Fans matter in an energy efficient build.

Achieving the desired interior comfort was a multidimensional undertaking that required an understanding of each layer of the project – from broad concepts like the building envelope, to considerations like thermal mass inside,all the way to smaller elements like  glazing performance and controlled ventilation working together as an integrated system. This layered approach also acknowledges that appliances and active systems, while not directly counted toward the NatHERS thermal star, influence overall energy use and occupant comfort. 

Within that context, ceiling fans become an important consideration for developing the project’s airflow strategy.  For example, well-specified ceiling fans allow the heating and cooling systems to operate less frequently and less intensively without sacrificing comfort. In practice, this means more comfortable rooms with lower running costs and less noise disruption.

The Gaia fans use a DC motor, which is ideal for energy efficient homes. DC motors consume far less power than traditional AC motors while still providing smooth, steady airflow.

– Katrina Lee, Why Ceiling Fans matter in an energy efficient build.