For Anthony re materials

http://www.architectureaustralia.com/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=199811&article=13&typeon=2 this is an article on Pee Wees restaurant Darwin by Troppo which covers issues all that we are resolving including an on site sewage treatment plant using worms as composters.
BHP Steel Edge MAR. 03 Ed. this is put out by BHP - short article on Rozak house. From what I've researched it seems that from a sustainable point it comes down to a personal preference between steel and timber . However both Troppo and Murcutt tend to use steel as their main frame (whether hidden or exposed) because it meets the requirement for cyclone conditions, firmly anchoring the building to the ground. The theory is that the lightweight cladding can be opened to allow the cyclonic winds to pass through and at the worst case scenario the cladding including louvres etc can be sacrificed . From a design angle Troppo,s philosophy is to have their structures appear to float/belightweight but at the same safely attached to the groundwhich I think is what we are achieving with our design.

In terms of timber for our decking Cooktown ironwood (part of the local flora of Kakadu) is the most commonly used timber material in the top end as is is very dense, (ie extremely hard) and termite resistant with a dark red brown trunks.It is a tall spreading (shade!) tree and in terms of sustainability there have been reports done but no definiive conclusions arrived at due to the still small harvesting industry in theNorthern Territory and QLD . They appear to have their regrowth by suckering and coppicing (chopping off at thebase).

Troppo use this material along with hoop pine plywood for their linings. We shoulduse this for our kitchen pod. It is regarded as extremely sustainable compared to itscounterparts such as radiata pine; it is a QLD native tree and has been successfully harvested for some time in QLD and used throughout Australia.