Heating

A central courtyard helps circulate breezes, keeping this interior cool over summer – over winter, a radiator contributes to snug, warm spaces

An appropriate inclusion in a sculptural home, this feature, room-dividing, two-sided Escea fireplace shares more than warmth with the adjacent space

This green-energy home sits on a concrete slab which absorbs the sun's rays during the day and releases the heat to the interiors come evening

White oak shiplap wall cladding references this home's mountain setting as do various pebble accents, including in the master bedroom fireplace

With passive solar heating to the fore, a simple wood burner handles secondary heating needs in this contemporary, hilltop home

A large roof surface with a 30 degree north facing area for solar panels was specified for this home – to feed a Tesla battery and a Tesla car.

This green-energy house is well set up for warmth. The main level sits on a concrete slab, which absorbs the sun's rays during the day via generous glazing and releases the heat back into the interior come evening

Your home should offer shelter, privacy, comfort – and, with comfort, a dancing wood fire. Check out our tips on getting those home fires burning

Amongst a raft of green strategies, the architect of this home started with a concrete floor slab that absorbs the sun's rays by day and releases that heat back into the interior by night

With design nods to early settler cottages and leading spaces trained on the views, this snug, modern home is all about embracing its mountain setting

With a red flue descending from the double height ceiling in this coastal living space, the gas fire helps divide the room and creates a sculptural feature in the process

This attractive/pragmatic interior includes a fireplace with a wetback for water heating and the option to link it to solar panels in the future

This grand top floor living & dining room features a giant stone fireplace and chimney structure that rises right up through the home

But that's all – this classic fireplace was kept on board for its unashamed good looks – its fossil fuel burning duties left in the past 

Breakfast is the most warming meal – especially when served at one of this kitchen's two breakfast bars complete with radiators tucked in below 

The ornate fireplaces in this renovated home looks great while its fuss, mess and labour is circumvented thanks to underfloor hydronic heating

A striking bioethanol marble fireplace warms this lavish room and gives intimacy to the space. Is this your idea of a sustainable lifestyle?

You're standing on it. Sunlight shines on this polished concrete slab floor, which acts as a thermal mass, absorbing the heat and releasing it at night

What could be more welcoming than this dancing fire in a feature wall which itself echoes the home's cladding – your heating can be a feature as well as a utility

The great thing about one season arriving is you can look ahead to plan for the seasons that follows. Here Warmup New Zealand Founder and CEO Paul Fielding responds to commonly asked questions about the increasingly popular option of underfloor heating for both tiled and carpeted areas of your home

A Warmington Open Wood Fire ensures this outdoor room is welcoming year round – perhaps the more so after a winter dip in yonder pool

The back patio and outdoor fireplace of a reinvented 1920s California villa combines two-sided functionality with a block-like sculptural presence

Don't need the daily hassle that comes with that open roaring fire? There is another way to utilise your redundant fire box to the good

Why say goodbye to the great outdoors over winter? These blazing examples show how al fresco warmth and al fresco style can come together

Winter is cranking up and considering your heating for this year and for next makes sense. Here are some dramatic fireplaces to fuel your imagination

One highlight of this renovation was transforming the many small rooms into larger, light-filled spaces. Plus, as well as having a tree at its heart, the home is a zero-energy building

Greatly reducing energy consumption and producing more energy than it will use over its lifespan, Snøhetta's Energy Positive Powerhouse goes even further – creating a welcome sign post for environmentally, socially and economically sustainable architecture

When you live in a beautiful mountain landscape, catching warmth where you can is a must. This internal courtyard keeps the owners close to nature but sheltered from winds off the lake and mountains

This outdoor fire brings warmth in winter – but even in summer it is a focal point for alfresco gatherings. The sight of jumping flames at dusk is appealing whatever the season

An internal open-air courtyard brings sunlight and warmth into the heart of this home while a contemporary black radiator offers an indoor heating option – one of several heating strategies in the mountain home

It’s not difficult to create a fire space that looks like it’s always been there.  The more you use it the more it will season and look great where you’ve set it up

Clever design means this two-sided gas fire is more than just for heating – it forms part of  a divider between the living and dining areas in this large open-plan home

The gas fire with tv positioned above establishes a central axis around which furniture is positioned in this apartment interior

A large entertainment space within a glass and concrete home might not seem that easy to heat. However, an elongated wall gas fire in the sunken lounge contributes to warmth and what better heating for a concrete floor home than in-slab heating? 

In this home by Dalecki Design, a cast-in-situ concrete wall with all imperfections retained offers a rugged counterpart to the polished concrete floor. The latter acts as a heat sink – soaking up the day’s rays to then release the warmth back into the interior at night, when the air is cooler.