Innehållsförteckning för #76 November-December 2020 från Green Magazine

For many of us in 2020, our homes have also became our workplaces – and for some of us, this has led to a rethink. What is the future of office design and will houses increasingly incorporate workspaces? We look at a variety of offices in this issue, some in the home and others outside of it, all with flexibility in mind. Our Tasmanian cover house, designed by Taylor and Hinds Architects, includes places for quiet study as opposed to work. A small library has replaced a bathroom as the client is a prolific reader. The importance of outdoor space has also been highlighted in these housebound times. In New Zealand’s Wellington, Spacecraft Architects has designed a low-budget renovation around a courtyard, to protect its residents from the city’s gusty…

AGILE Foolscap Studio’s digs may be dubbed ‘The Cloud’, but its dynamism ensures that this project's feet are firmly planted on the ground. After much searching, Foolscap Studio found the perfect site in a former factory in Melbourne’s artsy Collingwood; then transformed it into a creative studio and networking space catering for product design, prototyping, hospitality occasions and wellness initiatives. The interior palette is elegant, yet easygoing: headliners are timber, ample greenery and soft textiles. Elements like limewashed wall cladding by Porta, decorative lighting by ISM Objects and the studio’s own custom-designed modular lounge (aka ‘The Soufflé’) bring plenty of character. foolscapstudio.com.au STROKE OF GENIUS This Carlton, Melbourne apartment has an enviable view over the gardens outside, but its original layout fell short of realising its assets. Tom Eckersley Architects…

Architect Mihaly Slocombe mihalyslocombe.com.au Builder Basis Builders Passive energy design Deco House achieves a high level of environmental sustainability via the use of low embodied energy materials, adoption of passive solar design principles and careful selection of active energy and water saving systems. Orientation is to the north and east, with perforated metal screens and translucent canopy preventing the entry of unwanted summer sun. Insulation is high performance. Glazing is timber-framed and double-glazed. The polished concrete floor provides excellent thermal mass. Active systems include an all-electric energy system, including low-energy heat pump and green switch that kills non-essential circuits whenever the house is empty. Most importantly, Deco House retains the front half of the original Art Deco cottage, carefully preserving its fabric rather than letting the energy and history embodied…

By now, your vegetable garden should be in full swing, growing the ultimate summer harvests: luscious sun-ripened tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, flavoursome beans and endless zucchinis. Fill any gaps in your garden now, to avoid later disappointment, but remember to consider how long your plants will take to get to harvest stage if you’re still planting at this late stage of the growing season. If you’re planting tomatoes, buy well-developed plants as it’s too late in the season to grow your own from seed. Look for those with a short time to harvest, such as Stupice. If you’re planting beans, choose bush varieties, as they bear much more quickly than climbing types. Late spring is the perfect time to start warm-climate plants in cooler southern gardens. Passionfruit, citrus, turmeric, ginger, sweet…

We’re so spoiled for choice in Sydney. Choosing your favourites feels like an impossible task when every single entry in our latest book, Places We Swim Sydney, is well worth your time. But, if you really want to twist our arm, these six go a long way to revealing the many sides of this water-loving city. The variety and density of swims in Sydney is something that continues to amaze us. There are iconic beaches that gather the masses, yet just around the corner you will find a quiet refuge with a handful of friends. Ocean pools are bold and highly visible, carved into the reefs as a declaration of love for the sea. Waves explore over low walls and swirl a regular cast of swimmers like poached eggs. Harbour…

When Mat Hinds of Taylor and Hinds Architects describes this project, he does so with joy. He expresses the pleasure of working with a client who was ready to be challenged architecturally, and who pushed back, with outstanding results; the joy of returning to a site he already knew through a previous client (although the project did not eventuate in this case); and the delight of transforming the dark, damp, cluttered rear of a timber Federation cottage into a light-filled, ‘feathered’ space in which the client, a prolific reader and proficient craftswoman, can attend to her daily contentments. Lena, the client, placed no limits on her architects. Instead of requesting ‘safe moves’, says Mat, “Lena placed herself totally in our hands, and yet I see Lena in every aspect; she…

Architect Spacecraft Architects spacecraftarchitects.co.nz Builder South Coast Construction southcoast.co.nz Passive energy design The courtyard form of the house is driven by the constant wind in Wellington and the desire to shelter an area of outdoor space to open into. The house is totally blank and highly insulated to all exterior walls with the exception of the north face which lets winter sun in onto an insulated concrete slab for passive solar heating. All rooms in the house open onto the central courtyard which offers daylight and natural ventilation. Materials The house sits on a thermally-broken natural concrete slab and has thicker wall framing for increased levels of thermal insulation. The blank exterior faces of the house are generally clad in economical and fire-proof fibre-cement sheet while the court-facing walls are…

In retrospect it should probably have set alarm bells ringing when clients Tim and Deidre found their Malvern home on the market back in 2009 during a chilly Melbourne winter. In August, sun pouring in from poolside through masses of north-facing glazing created lovely light, warmth and indoor-outdoor connection throughout the voluminous, shed-like space. By January, the place was a hotbox. Single glazing, little-to-no insulation and plenty of hard surfaces for sound to bounce off made for a sweaty, noisy existence. During storms you couldn’t hear each other speak. As for boiling the kettle while someone in this musical family of four practised piano … Initial plans to renovate within a year proved impractical due to cost. Besides, the home worked well in many ways. Designed in 1993 by architects…

Winner, Winner It’s not hard to see why “The Farm” scored a Good Design Award Gold Accolade: it’s designed and made in Australia from 100 per cent locally-sourced recycled plastic destined for landfill and would make a stylish addition to the courtyard or balcony of any smaller household. compostrevolution.com.au Regenerate We’re longtime fans of Liane Rossler’s work and Sweet Nature Regeneration Station 2020 is no exception. Made for alt. material’s virtual exhibition, ingenuity, Liane created a stoneware ceramic propagation station “to nurture nature.” This work is directly inspired by recent events, Liane explains: “During this COVID time, I’ve been giving extra attention and appreciation to everyday produce … that we might think have finished their life but are actually still full of life. I’ve created something for them [to] keep…

Architect Taylor and Hinds Architects taylorandhinds.com.au Builder DS Building Joiner Dickens Constructions Window joiner Trimview Passive energy design The aspect of the site mitigates the low winter sun, and pressure from the upslope ground encroaches upon the garden and natural light. This presented as a primary issue to be addressed in the reworking of the interior. The new work needed to ameliorate the pressure of the terrain, revivify the garden, and increase the sunlight to the interior. Rather than entirely build out onto the new terrace, an extension is made obliquely, to compartmentalise the sandstone shelf as additional living space as well as a northeasterly oriented courtyard. This turns the orientation of the living space along, rather than against, the contour and opens the living spaces to morning aspect. The…

Architect and interior design PHOOEY Architects phooey.com.au Builder Ben Robson Master Builder Structural engineer Pariden Consulting pariden.com.au Energy consultant RED Sustainability Consultants red-sustainability.com.au Acoustic consultant Rohan Barnes waveformacoustics.com.au Passive energy design The bones of the existing design were sensitively retained and embellished. Renovations were limited to an upgrade to the existing thermal envelope, new solar awnings, cabinetry, electrical fittings, internal claddings, floor finishes and window furnishings. Early ESD and acoustic research determined thermal and acoustic priorities. Roof and wall details were carefully documented to simultaneously maximise new thermal and acoustic performance. A neutral material palette largely composed of whites and silvers was complemented by the warmth of exposed aggregate stones, lightly stained feature plywoods, textured carpets and huggable woollen acoustic claddings. New LED light fittings enable task or alternatively mood…

And now, from the director who brought you Coneheads, Electric Dreams and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a blockbuster of epic environmental proportions: The House Made of Hemp! OK, so we're gonna have to work on the title, but a film, or documentary, would be a great idea for the story of how lauded film director Steve Barron became horrified about how we are treating the planet and decided to do something about it. “I was drawn to the need to help rescue the soil, the air and the seas on our planet,” explains Steve. “We all need to help protect this earth for our future generations, and so, inspired by my grandson, I saw that farming, growing hemp was the most accessible way to try and help.” In 2016, when…

Beekeeping and collecting honey has always fascinated us; the more you explore it, the more you don’t know and the more enchanting it becomes. Ask Melbourne apiarist (and architect), Nic Dowse, founder of Honey Fingers. Nic and his friends make up a collective of passionate creatives who celebrate ‘bee culture’ in Melbourne. “Bee culture is a term used to describe the special culture that exists between bees and humans. Promoting, exploring and experimenting with bee cultures; the intersection between bees and humanity; a celebration of our symbiosis is what drives our research and practice,” shares Honey Fingers. Honey Fingers started around eight years ago as an urban beekeeping network; placing and managing hives on rooftops and backyards in Melbourne’s inner-north, and then harvesting the honey (never all of it –…