T3

These might be slightly wrong for our Climate...but the design is relevant and I think its quite interesting with concern to Simplicity, 'touching the ground lightly', air circulation, materials, shape and orientation, general aesthetics.

LITTLE PODS

If we decide to have separate sleeping pods we could have them each sited (standing) differently on the terrain to give each a sense of individuality. Our major concerns though that will drive our design are air movement and shade.

BIG BROLGA

First thoughts include one large eating/sleeping/studying centre elevated off the ground with a huge span roof which is not solid outside the wall line but slatted metal or timber that would both generate shade and changing light patterns. Structurally ...??

thumbnail of brolga symbolism for kakadu site

We have adopted the brolga as a symbolic of our kakadu site. It represents lightness, beauty, off the ground architecture, wings/shading/roofs, treading lightly on the earth etc (even if Guenter didn't recognise my thumbnail as a brolga- which is totally understandable!)

MINUTES MEETING TWO

Stacking A Cube

If you want to stack a cube just click on this site...

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4573164360299728968&q=Stacking+a+Cube&pr=goog-sl

Taliesan 2 - Design Principles

• Elevated off ground
• Bird (symbolism)
• Pavilion/Pod design plan
• Design to accomodate for 3-4 people
• Lightweight construction
• Steel Frame
• Utilization of screens
• Design must be orientated with the following in mind; front facade faces south, back facade faces north and cooling breeze - north west, south east.

Taliesan 2.....First Client Meeting

Hey Victoria and Anthony, the following is a summary of our first meeting with our clients.

• Firstly, we as a group need to decide on whether to go with a linear plan design or a pavilion design.
• Secondly, we also discussed the construction of the roof, especially in regards to the implications of the cyclonic environment. (At this stage we are still unsure as to the potential of wind uplift on roof design and maybe further research is required to solve our queries?)
• Thirdly, during the meeting, our clients brought to our attention the use of materials which may/may not be suitable to our environment, (e.g. timber - termites).

Rainfall and Temperature Statistics Hot/Dry Climate

For next week

For next week we agreed to:
1. Look at one aspect of climate each:

• Rainfall - Vicki
• Sun Angles - Silas
• Wind and Temperature Variations - Daniel

We'll each post this info on the blog.

2. Record our response to the site.

3. Draw up a design considering the following points that we have talked about:

• long thin building
• individual pods acting like a little city
• separate bath-house
• roof garden with native grasses
• dip in courtyard to catch all condensation
• rammed earth/glass/steel
• strong low horizontal lines
• digging the building into the earth

These are just ideas to jolt our memories, not to constrict our design process.

Chair for week 1 was Vicki. Daniel was minute taker. Roles will be rotated each week.

Three ideas for hot/dry climate

Communal Space/Private Space

We brainstormed what ideas about these two different uses of space:

Communal Space
- saves materials by sharing resources ie do we need three separate kitchens or one that we share?
- provides opportunities for social interaction
- create formal communal space - eg space for eating together
- create other spaces where incidental interactions occur eg. cool shady corner of garden where people gravitate to
- create multi use spaces
- create spaces that can accomodate visitors given the distance from civilization

Private Space
- should it be minimal ie just a bed or should it be a place for an individual to live in entirely
- could open onto a communal space
- agreed good to keep it as small as possible but make it a working and sleeping space
- use levels within a small footprint to distinguish areas for different activities

Bathrooms
- discussion on bathrooms and how many we should design for
-trend to have a bathroom each but is this desirable in such a remote place - building needs to be kept small
- rural lifestyle means there is not the pressure on everyone to get up and shower before work
- also means boys can wee outside

- keep it really open with views to outside
- look to reuse water possibly for evaporative cooling arrangements
- reuse in garden planted nearby - gardens shelter house from hot winds and dust
- make a separate bath-house, detached from main building
- use bath-house as cooling mechanism ie breeze blows through water
-collapsible walls, louvred windows
- remember it can get very cold at night
-

Design Strategies for a Hot Dry Site

Sun angles

I've been doing some research into sun angles and eave depths for our hot dry site. I couldn't find the exact latitude and longitude of the site anywhere though - does anyone know it?


Above is a rule of thumb for latitudes up to Brisbane, which we are past. The website I got this from (www.greenhouse.gov.au) reccommends that for latitudes closer to the equator other forms of shading apart from just wide eaves be used, such as the louvred eaves below.

Midwinter noon sun angle	=	90 – (Latitude + 23.5)
Midsummer noon sun angle	=	90 – (Latitude – 23.5)
Equinox noon sun angle	=	90 – Latitude

This gives the sun angles for the different times of year. We now have to decide what times of the year we would like to block out the sun to make the best use of our thermal mass.

MINUTES OF DOMUS TUTORIAL FOR TALIESAN 1 TAKEN BY TALIESAN 2, 27/04/07

Good Design Principles

Hey Guys,
I found these images that were designed for "A House for an Ecologist"
they have some intersting design features that we could incorporate into our designs.

First attempts at gaining some perspective, based on the idea I thought had the most potential.

See you Friday...

Some general hints for hot-humid climate...

http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/cpeople/build4.htm

Team contract

domus idea one

Here is an initial idea for domus. Pictured are a summer perspective and a winter perspective at midday and a perspective east/west section cut. The main elements of the design are three seperate bedrooms on the upper level (stairs not solved yet) and a downstairs shared area with study at one end, kitchen/dining at the other and a communal bathroom in the middle. Each bedroom has its own balcony and a suspended internal walkway and outside planters help shade the bottom floor in summer.

Good Work guys...we work well together...YAH TEAM T3!!!

T3_MINUTES

T3 CONTRACT : Brent Leheny, Daniel Calder and Stuart Dow

TO A AND M - GOOD SITE FOR KAKADU REGION

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/visitorinfo/climate.html

to melanie and anthony re hot humid

Hope this is readable as had to blow up very feint sketches. I've posted this section and plan of Murcutt's Marika - Alderton House in hot humid zone because it shows the summer and winter breezes which are so important for our domus. He has faced the long section directly north south (both fully openable) and the NWand SE winds flow through the building on an angle

the tunnelhouse in these photos is being used to shelter a fibreglass catamaran currently being built. The square steel structure is the cradle holding the cat, not part of the tunnelhouse.

Here is the TUNNELHOUSE construction that I mentioned. It is a lightweight solarweave shading material over lightweight square section gal. steel hooped trusses - it made by Monbulk Rural and is primarily used in the agriculture industry as a shading device for plants. I suspect brainstorming this one will raise too many problems but maybe we can use some of rationale behind these "shade houses"

Climate website

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/
This website will be helpful once we have our site. It has detailed info on rainfall and temperature averages for lots of different regions.

Possible materials for hot arid climate

This photo is of a rammed earth dwelling in Arizona - obviously a hot arid climate. I thought rammed earth might be an interesting material to use as it has very good thermal mass properties which work well with climates with high fluctuations between night and day temperatures. Also we will need to consider getting materials out to remote places. If the earth on the site is suitable it makes sense to use it in terms of lowering the embodied energy in the dwelling, and making it blend in with its place. Ongoing maintenance is also an important consideration in distant hot places. Rammed earth is a very durable, low maintenance material is constructed properly.

It would be good to use locally sourced materials wherever possible. I have heard that indiginous people wove screens out of local grasses. When wet they have a cooling effect when the breeze passes through them.

If we cannot use locally sourced material we should aim to use materials that are simple to transport and durable and able to stand up to the harsh climatic conditions so that ongoing maintenance is minimised.

Hot Dry Climate Zone

Not sure if we are supposed to put our little group stuff here but it may be of use to anyone else doing Hot Dry Climate zone.

Silas and Daniel, here are some photos from an area south of Broome that I visited a couple of years ago. Thought they might be interesting to look at when thinking about what our building might look like, given that our site is apparantly south of Broome. Visiting this place had a really big impact on me. The remoteness of northwestern Australia is probably about as remote as it gets anywhere in the world. The climate is harsh and unforgiving.

These photos were taken at a community on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert - pretty hot and arid. Not sure if our site will be as remote as this but if it is south of Broome it will probably be a pretty harsh environment. Theres not much up there!

I was trying to think about water at this place after we had talked about water in hot dry places on Friday. Water was not too much of a problem here as they had access to a bore. (Although the plumbing broke down when I was there and it takes ages to get anything fixed). It will be very intersting to see what our site offers in terms of water supply.

As you can see from the photos, this site changes dramatically when the rain comes. The place has no rain for a very long time and then when the rain comes it cuts the community off. (To get there you have to drive through the Fitzroy river which swells when the rain comes.) We'll have to check if our site gets such heavy rain as obviously we will have to cater for it.

The other thing about visiting this place was that the difference between night and day temperatures was really extreme. Freezing at night and hot through the day. A good place to use thermal mass.

Shelf eaves wall

I've been mucking around with this idea of external shading that also acts as shelving inside. I like the idea that it links something functional outside to the inside space and that the amount of light it lets in can change with how much crap you have on the shelves. I wonder what the thermal mass of books would be like?

Vicki, Daniel and Silas' contract

After discussion on the 20th of April 2007, the team of Vicki Mclean, Daniel De Nardo and Silas Gibson have agreed to abide by the following rules and codes of practice regarding conduct during the Domus project.

We will appoint a different chairperson each week who will facilitate discussions at meetings and lead the tutorial reviews and presentations to clients. We will also appoint a different team member each week to take minutes of the meetings.

Team members will arrive on time to meetings, contribute ideas and opinions, carry out agreed tasks punctually and attend all meetings.

Team members will listen attentively to one another, provide constructive criticism and refrain from interrupting each other. Everyone will have the chance to speak at meetings and respect and consideration will be given to all ideas put forth.

The group will reach consensus on all decisions regarding the project. We will deal with all problems openly within the group.

At the end of tutorials the group will put aside time to reflect on what was discussed and to assign tasks to be completed before the next meeting.

A signed copy of this document has been forwarded to the Attorney General of Australia and may be used as evidence in a court of law.

Taliesan 6

Brent & Stuart,

Here is my submission for minima, for us to disect the good aspects and maybe incorporate them into our Domus.

Good website for next project

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs00.htm

Brent's Minima...Snippets of Process

Brent's Minima Posters

An exploration of not just minimal space, but of minimal impact on the environment.

minima

Here are my three posters for minima. The first poster is trying to show how the space is shaped by the furniture. The second and third posters show the form and how the space works. My feedback was that it would have been clearer if I'd used more standard architectural drawings to show my space, such as a section on poster two and a plan without perspective on poster three, which in hindsight I agree with.

Anthony's Minima

Just posting my minima. The section model represtents a cut along the horizontal plane about at 1500mm above ground level. The intention for the model was to convey the 'feel' of the space, both internally and externally. I was more interested in the idea of an empty room, particulalry on the horizontal plane, to express my idea of minima. Less is more... In hindsight, a vertical section would have given a better representation of internal space.
p.s. The posters are not posting properly, despite numeraous attempts in all formats and sizes. If you click on the thumbs nails the posters will be displayed normaly.
Thanks