Innehållsförteckning för #86 Jul-Aug 2022 från Green Magazine

In this, our annual Bush Architecture issue, we look at five houses in the bush, on the coastline and on ex-farmland. Each had its own particular challenge that comes with building outside of urban areas. In a fragile coastal environment, when efforts to preserve failed, architects Kennedy Nolan instead sought to remember a much-loved old house and at the same time enhance the connection to the surrounding vegetation via a green-roof with plants of great diversity. A simple, affordable and sustainable solution was what Peter Stutchbury Architecture were striving for in their development of a prefabricated home with Dimensions X. Similarly, budget and sustainability were the drivers for Imogen Puller Architecture in the design of a 30-square-metre shack on a site with BAL Flame Zone classification. Meanwhile, on ex-farmland in…

Out of sight, the ocean is heard lapping at the dog beach shoreline. A muffled sound beyond the tree line. A corten steel gate with the word ‘Always’ welded on it has been left ajar. It is here on this site, some four or five years ago that Julie commissioned architects Kennedy Nolan to design a beachside weekender. Initially the design brief was conceived around the conservation of an existing house designed by Chancellor and Patrick – renowned mid-century architects who were responsible for the seminal McCraith House, commonly known as the Butterfly House. “Our attempts to preserve and restore the house were thwarted by the structural necessity to place it on 15-metre-deep piles, without which the house was in real danger of sliding onto the beach,” explained the architect…

Architect Peter Stutchbury – Design architect Alejo de Achaval – Project architect peterstutchbury.com.au Owner/Builder Oscar Martin and Pierre Toumanoff + Hinton Homes Location Wonnaura Nation. Broke, NSW. Passive energy design Each Dimensions X prefabricated house is designed to adapt to site and is flexible according to the landscape. Systems are made to adapt to orientation, a flexibility that is unusual for prefab houses. Standard door and window systems can interchange to manage light and sun. The houses are made with no waste and are designed for minimal energy consumption. 57m2 is designed to feel like 100m2. They have generous eaves, a portal system for expansion and contraction, and a variety of joinery inserts. Skylights rotate 360 degrees in four segments. Assembled on site using a rattle gun, each house is…

A knoll, a view, a kinked river boundary and the ever-present wind. These are the four challenges that Launceston studio Cumulus integrated and resolved on a former grazing property at Relbia in northern Tasmania. James and Alice acquired the subdivided property eight years ago from Alice’s parents who had lived there for 40 years. This region has been farmed since the 1850s; prior to that, the clans of the Stoney Creek Nation fed from its rivers and plains. Rehabilitation of the degraded grazing land and riparian zone of the North Esk River had already started, part of a 10-year plan. Severe infestations of hawthorn and gorse were removed before the planting of over 2000 native grasses, shrubs and trees could begin. Even prior to that, a geotechnical survey was commissioned…

Architect ME mearchitect.com.au Builder A&J Building Group Location Yugambeh Country. Currumbin Valley, QLD. Passive energy design The dwelling is linear in plan minimising exposure to the east and west and maximising exposure to the north. The upper-floor overhangs, sunshade boxes and retractable screen provide summer shading. In winter, the sun penetrates deep inside the living spaces, maximising the thermal mass of the internal block walls. Windows and doors are positioned for effective cross ventilation with no air conditioning. The design provides comfortable living with low energy use all year round. Materials The ground level has a concrete slab with core-filled blockwork stairwell and walls. The first floor is comprised of highly-insulated, lightweight, timber-framed construction, with minimal steel work. The interiors feature plasterboard and wax-finished spotted gum joinery. Paints are low-VOC.…

Architect Kennedy Nolan kennedynolan.com.au Builder Gaffcon Location Boonwurrung Country. Flinders, Vic. Passive energy design The house is mostly oriented to the north-west in order to encapsulate the view to the beach below and the northern sun. As a result, a large overhang above the living and kitchen spaces was incorporated in order to provide adequate summer shading. In winter the sun can penetrate well inside the living room through the glazing, and minimal openings were included in the south façade to minimise heat loss. The green roof acts as a natural insulator, contributing to the home’s passive design. Terraces and decks on the east of the house along with operable windows throughout allow for cross ventilation. Landscaping This landscape, created with regular collaborator Amanda Oliver, is designed to surround and…

Architect Cumulus Studio cumulus.studio Builder Minchin Construction Location Stoney Creek Nation. Launceston, Tas. Passive energy design The west-facing bedrooms are protected by a rough-sawn, spotted gum timber screen, which acts as a barrier against both the summer sun and the prevailing westerly winds. The bedroom and bathroom windows of the timber screen are operable and, combined with the courtyard doors and living room windows, can be opened to allow ample natural ventilation throughout the home. The north-facing living room features 2.7 m high double-glazed windows (Concept Aluminium fixed/awning windows, Jewel Sashless sliding windows and Wintec sliding doors), which are shaded by a 2.4 m eave that controls the sun in the summer but allows it into the space during the winter. Materials The ground level is made from concrete while…

Restore your body after a cold day working in the garden with some bath tea, that is, a bath with herbal tea in it. The tea water needs to be freshly boiled to draw the herbs out effectively, so find a big four to six cup teapot, and fill it with some of your favourite fresh or dried herbs, after crushing them in a mortar and pestle or in your hands to release their goodness. Add the boiling water to the teapot of herbs and allow to draw for three to five minutes as you would for other teas, then pour this strong brew into a freshly drawn hot bath. Add epsom or magnesium salts for muscle relaxation. A great way to use up tea herbs in the cupboard that…

Louise Freckelton and David Bray are custodians of 333 hectares of stunning – yet harsh and fire-prone – land, located on New South Wales’ South Western Slopes bioregion. Now known as Highfield Farm and Woodland, two-thirds of the property falls under an enduring conservation covenant established by the Biodiversity Conservation Trust in 2010. The area protects critically-endangered box gum grassy woodland, 95 per cent of which has been destroyed or degraded for grazing and cropping. It hosts at least 140 different bird species, such as the critically endangered regent honey-eater and at least 15 bird species that have been classified as vulnerable. The other third hosts a small-scale farming operation, producing award-winning, native-grass-fed dorper lamb, but also offering beef, chicken, eggs and more, as well as their award-winning off-grid and…

Sustainability and affordability are two key issues in housing today, and a new prefabricated house called Dimensions X is proving that both are achievable. A collaboration between Peter Stutchbury Architects and entrepreneur Oscar Martin, Dimensions X is a series of sustainable, affordable and beautiful prefabricated homes with OM-1, the first prototype, built at the Krinklewood vineyard in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Dimensions X is the product of Peter’s 40 years’ experience in the architecture industry, and Oscar’s recent foray into building. Oscar experienced the inefficiencies of the building process (delays, cost and waste) at his house in Bondi, until the prefabricated wall panels arrived and went into place in a single day. “It suddenly resembled a house and I wondered why the rest of it couldn’t be built that way,”…

Architect Imogen Puller Architecture imogenpullar.com Builder MVH Constructions mvhconstructions.com Landscape McNuttndorff Landscapes Mural artists April Phillips, Beci Orpin, Carla McRae, David Booth Stylist Jess Kneebone Location Boonwurrung Country. Walkerville, Vic. Passive energy design The small scale of the house minimises environmental impact by reducing heating and cooling costs. Double-glazing is used throughout to minimise solar gains and maximise insulative properties. In summer the verandah provides shading to the northern glazing and outdoor deck. In winter, sun penetrates deep into the interior. Glazing to the west is minimised to reduce over-heating. High-level operable windows on the south provide a thermal chimney to draw cool air in at ground level and expel hot air from the upper level. Airtight vapour-permeable wraps and continuous insulation around the floors, walls and ceiling provide a…

Downsizing from an acre of rambling gully slope to a level suburban block in Victoria's Mount Eliza, keen conservationist Ann Scoles has guided this (mostly) native garden with plants she and her husband propagated over many years from the natural seedbed. In consideration of the challenge of saying goodbye to their lovely bush garden, as well as the needs of growing older, the house was designed for the couple with great care. “[Our new house is] in an urban environment unlike the riparian bushland which had nurtured our life for 34 years. Nonetheless, it was a fresh beginning – a house commensurate with our physical needs and our necessity to be near shops and buses,” says Ann. “Through careful design, Bent Architecture produced a house that provides expansive views of…