?

I'm really bored!

rendering

Guys, I've been practising and I think I may be able to draw our design on Microstation... depending on how tricky it is but... it should be fine.

hey guys just a quick question! did anyone see my scale ruler at the state library coz i cant find it anywhere!!!

what we came up with

Following the state library meeting...
Pretty independant ideas right now which is a good start. when shall we four meet again?

Double storey with central tower/scoop light.












Open living, mezanine bedroom level overlooking.










Open living with central service core. BEdrooms on wheels!









rotating walls enclose or extend room.
Conclusions? we like decking!!
although, may i add that it seems more appropriate to have single storey (or queenslander stilted) and spread it out rather than building up in such a vast landscape. just to feel more a part of it.

Aesthetics

These are a few examples of the aesthetics and materials I would like to see in our design; what about you guys?

Tourist Guide

Not sure how helpful it is but it's on the table.
http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/publications/kakadu/pubs/visitor-guide.pdf
Left is a traditional vs. western weather map. It shows a lot more differentiation in weather patterns than the conventional four season year.

Ken Yeang's buildings

http://www.battlemccarthy.com/Sustainable%20Towers%20Website/sustainable%20_towers%20_in_Far%20East.htm
This site lists environmental features about some of Ken Yeang's buildings.

Is my comp bugging or you were talking to each other at 4 in the morning??? :shock:

its kool with me ill be there tomorro ive got some design ideas n ive had a look at the site n the climate n hopefully we should be able to start thinkn tomoro ! sorry i just told u bout the site but i thought i was wrong!!!

After all that! The site is wrong. I typed in the coordinates in google earth again and it auto-fills/makes up its own coordinates. Sorry. What a waste.
So is eleven o'clock at the State Library okay with everyone?

hey guys i think we got the site position wrong i was looking through google earth n i think i found one that is diffrent than what we were lookin at in the cafe! so im not sure if this is what everyone is lookin at but just thought id let u noe !!! there are roads next to it and there is an actual site with houses next to it n stuff neways this is a pic of it

meeting at state library

hey guys sorry havnt blogged at all ive been workin all weekend ill get my work with me on monday! i prefer early coz i have a student at 5pm so i hav to b out of the city at bout 3pm
so ne time b4 that is kool with me!n yes ive put our group on tuckerz list! with the site as kakadu

Meet at the State Library??

What time is good for everyone tomorrow? Early is better for me... but not too early.

Tropical Architecture

From the book Tropical Urban Regionalism by Ken Yeang

Strawbale construction

http://www.deboerarchitects.com/StrawbaleThoughts.html

Possible?? Hmmm. Also click on link for bamboo structures. Simon Verez is an architect to look out for here. You can get some great forms from it and it doesn't have to be hidden like straw-bale construction often is.

Excerpt from article:

I like building with straw because -- even after working on relatively few buildings -- it's clear that it works better than wood. It's pure insulation with no energy leaks through the framing; with plaster, it just doesn't burn (try throwing your phone book into a fire), there are no openings for rodents and insects to run around, AND there's nothing there for them to eat anyway. Done right, the system is amazingly strong, putting plywood to shame (see testing results), but the most crucial advantage over conventional construction is that straw walls have quite a capacity to hold lots of water before any kind of rot can begin. In any building system, water will inevitably get into the assembly sometime, even if just from the breathing of the occupants or high humidity. But if composting can only begin once moisture reaches 28%, or if almost a third of the contents of that two foot thick wall of solid cellulose needs to be water, you have to REALLY be trying to get that wall so totally saturated that there are problems. Though I haven't worked in an extremely humid climate, I think straw is better suited for those conditions than wood framing with moisture-resisting fiberglass insulation because the moisture has no option other than sitting on the relatively small surface area of the wood framing.

The most important idea is avoid vapor barriers so the moisture can get out.

Prevailing Winds

I know Jason mentioned earlier that winds were mainly north-westerly. But I just went on BOM and it came up with below. This is for Tindal, a nearby town at 9am. Apparently south-easterly wind is stronger. Beat that Jason! though looking at both Tindal and Darwin's wind roses, I think its safe to assume that at 9am the winds will blow SE and in the afternoon onwards will go the opposite direction.
However it's very different at 3pm and much calmer.

Nice plan

This is Karijini National park Visitor center. I love the fluidity of the floorplan.

Site Axis'

Here I've just assessed from the fall of the hill we should point the main view down the hill for the best view.
Luckily, the downhill view also points slightly into the sunset but not too much.
Also, I put the site entrance at the top of the site because it has the largest gap between the trees and it lays directly on the North-South axis.
We're also lucky as the prevailing winds throughout the region are North-Westerlies and we have a large line of trees on the right side of the site to slow these winds.
Here I've laid out three possible entry paths for cars to the site. As the highway is to the left, all roads come from there. The orange path stays high and is the most direct route. The yellow path comes in from behind the site which allows no view of the building, leaving you guessing. The pink path and my favourite, comes around the front of the site allowing a view up at the house then goes around the site entering at the rear, allowing for the guests to gain a full perspective of the site, becoming familiarized quickly.

Ray...

Raymond, did you get around to putting our group on the list for Tucker?

Meeting Time

I think we should all meet in the city because we're all on different sides of the city. Is this okay by everyone?

Hello its me again...

Some links to tropical architecture pics that i found on the net. :)

Sumba West Timor

Costa Rica by Gianni Botsford a tropical house

Meeting on Monday (28/04) + Three Ideas

Hi there!

Do you wanna meet on Monday? (or any other day) Time? Place? :)

Thanks for the site Jason.

It would be good if we can bring some research on

• climate
• energy
• sustainability
• vernacular tradition
• materials

Another thing you may wanna do is to start doing analysis of all this and think of the

requirements for comfortable living for 9 people on 40sqm site (which will be quite dense).

Most importantly, can we all do three ideas and bring them to the meeting? It will only work if all of us will do it separately so we will not influence each other. :)

See you all soon


P.P.S. to Jayson about the fence. This was a question of whether we want to establish our site boundaries or not, I didn't mean a physical fence as such.

Site Plan

Hi Guys!
I've gone and checked on the site and drawn up some site plans at two varying scales as you'll see on the pics.

If you want to have a look at the site just use the coordinates on the image in Google Earth and you can check it out.

I think the next step from here is to figure out an entry path, site axis, solar orientation and to start researching how to be a self-sufficient site.

Also (Lena) I thought the fence idea might be ok but it will have to be something different and one that fits in with the design scheme we all decide to go with. Here is one of my ideas, just off the top of my head.
Anyway... It'll be a joy working with you all. Let's put our heads down and bums up and design something sweet as fuck!