Our first day back at the office for 2020 wasn’t normal. Though, nothing about the heat, smoke and fire of this Australian summer has been normal. With catastrophic bushfire impacting nearby towns of Bundanoon, Penrose, Wingello, Bargo, Balmoral and Kangaroo Valley, we are on high alert every day. Bushfire has already affected two of our rural projects with several other close calls. We have never experienced a bushfire season with this scale, extent and ferocity. Although we are still in its midst, there is a lot we can learn from these fires and many important reminders.

So, we sat down and put together this article. We want to clarify our own thinking and communicate our thoughts on the future of designing for bushfire in Australia.

Our New Normal

• Bushfire is affecting areas which have never been burnt before and areas that aren’t considered ‘bushfire prone’. 
• The bushfire season is longer. There is an increase in extreme fire behaviour (like fire tornadoes and pyrocumulus clouds/storms). 
• Bushfires are moving fast. Embers start spot-fires many kilometers ahead of the fire front. 
• Staying to defend property in a bushfire prone area is dangerous and often impossible, even for professionals.

The Bushfire Construction Code

We have a Bushfire Construction Standard in Australia: Australian Standard 3959: Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas (aka “AS3959”). The National Construction Code requires buildings in “bushfire-prone” areas to be constructed according to this code. You can find out if your block is “bushfire-prone” by going to: ACTMAPi (ACT), Planning Portal (NSW) and VicPlan (Victoria). If it is not prone, you don’t legally need to build for bushfire (for now). 

If the map does show your property as bushfire prone, then you need to find out your ‘Bushfire Attack Level’ (BAL). We recommend that you use a BPAD certified professional http://www.fpaa.com.au/bpad for this.

We calculate BALs based on the slope and vegetation around your house over a distance of 140m. Generally the steeper and more vegetated the site, the higher the BAL. The Standard gives construction requirements for each BAL:

• BAL-LOW: no requirements
• BAL-12.5 to BAL-40: requirements designed to withstand increasing severity of ember attack and radiant heat
• BAL-FZ: the ‘Flame Zone’ where flames from bushfire may come into contact with the building. Very strict requirement

 

Although AS3959 is based on the reviews of previous bushfire disasters, the 2019-2020 fire season shows us that the requirements are not good enough. We expect and hope that the legislation will be heavily revised after this summer.

Here’s What We Think

Cobargo – the “bushfire-prone” land surrounding the town is marked in orange.

The “bushfire prone” and “not bushfire prone” definitions are flawed

Ember attack now occurs in areas not mapped as ‘bushfire prone’ such as Batlow, Cobargo and Quaama (all this year). We have seen buildings lost in these towns. New buildings in these non-bushfire-prone areas are not currently required to meet AS3959 and old buildings are vulnerable to ember attack and fire. We should treat everywhere as “bushfire prone”. We should adapt all existing buildings to resist ember attack and construct all new buildings to resist ember attack.

The BAL calculation should not only be based on land within a 140m radius 

Fires this season move fast. Currently, AS3959 calculates your BAL based on the slope and vegetation around your house over a distance of 140m. This isn’t good enough. The Dunns Road and Countegany fires each travelled over 50km in the space of a few days. High winds blow embers long distances away from affected bushland. This means your property could be over 20km away from fire but still experience ember attack.

You can’t “manage” a gum tree

In AS3959, there are no bushfire construction requirements if the surrounding land is ‘managed land’. This is defined as gardens, lawns and parkland. This managed land can still include flammable native vegetation in backyards or nature strips. There is no qualifier for whether this land has been managed well (or managed at all) to reduce fuel loads. During a drought and water restrictions, ‘managed’ land is just as combustible as bushland. In fact, even if it was regularly watered and filled with fire-retardant plantings, ember attack can still come from further away. Again, we now know that everywhere is “bushfire prone” unless proven otherwise.

Managed Land in East Bowral (despite the high bushfire threat of dry mulch and gums)

There is no such thing as a ‘bushfire-proof’ house

 Many of the houses lost this season have been built from steel, brick and concrete. Unless they are built to the highest standard, embers can get in and ignite timber roof structures and decking. Once timber structures like decks and roofs are alight, brick and concrete walls will often collapse and split open, no longer providing shelter. Aluminium windows will melt above 660°C and direct exposure to flame can easily exceed this. So although aluminium windows are less likely to combust than timber windows, they aren’t protection against direct flames and radiant heat.

 The construction requirements in AS3959 are designed to save lives, not property. The building may provide shelter while a (‘normal’) fire front passes through, but this does not mean the house is ‘bushfire proof’. It does not mean the building will survive the fire. 

 Many materials designed to withstand ember attack will still eventually ignite if exposed to fire for long enough. (e.g. fire-resistant timber listed inAS3959). If a house is not going to be actively defended (e.g. a weekender), then it should be built to a higher construction level.

Ember Attack (learn more here)

What can you do?

Here are our thoughts on how to improve bushfire resistance in all houses:

Upgrade existing houses to meet AS3959

• Reclad timber/weatherboard buildings with non-combustible + bushfire-rated claddings. Some options: Knotwood, Colorbond, Fibre-cement boards like Scyon, Inex + Cemintel, Weathertex/
• Seal gaps in wall cladding by covering, overlapping or using non-combustible sealants
• Seal gaps in roof cladding with perforated steel mesh or mineral wool
• Avoid flammable products like foams and external timber (e.g. SIPs, rendered XPS + EPS cladding)
• Add metal screens to window openings
• Screen vents and openings with corrosion-resistant steel
• Upgrade glass (particularly old 3mm glass) to 5mm or 6mm toughened glass
• Replace timber + upvc windows with aluminium, steel or aluminium composite windows. 
• Add bushfire shutters to windows.
• Replace timber decks with light-gauge steel structures (e.g. Spantec) + non-combustible decking (e.g. HardieDeck, Inex, + Knotwood)
• Replace poly (plastic) water tanks with metal or concrete water tanks.

Batlow’s Fire Risk – Buildings in the yellow ‘buffer zone’ were lost to fire.

Manage Bushfire-prone Vegetation

AS3959 doesn’t currently specify standards for vegetation around buildings. After this fire season, we can expect this to change!

• Plant fire resistant and fire retardant plants in preference to explosive plants such as gumtrees, native scrub and pine trees. Here is a list of Fire resistant natives and fire-resistant non natives.
• Avoid construction close to native vegetation (particularly gum trees) and pine forests. Because of the high quantities of eucalyptus oil, no amount of ‘management’ will stop a gum tree being extremely flammable and even explosive. Many species also drop large amounts of leaves and bark throughout the year. This results in flammable materials in gutters and across the ground.
•  Avoid any kind of pine or conifer near buildings. Again, these trees contain high concentrations of potentially explosive pine oil. If you have pines or conifers near or over your house, apply to have them removed. Most councils are in favour of removing pine trees.

Part of what made Canberra’s 2003 fires so vicious was the explosive pine tree plantation that backed onto the suburb of Duffy.

Don’t build in the Flame Zone

 Areas with BAL-FZ  ‘flame zone’ may have bushfire flames directly against the house. In catastrophic conditions, it is impossible to defend a house in this situation. Don’t build in the Flame Zone.

• Where houses are ‘designed’ for the flame zone, they are only designed to provide shelter for a limited time while the fire front passes over. After the fire front has passed, the house is likely to be destroyed or severely damaged.
• In NSW it is extremely difficult to get approval to build in the flame zone. All applications must go through the RFS. RFS are unlikely to approve a house without very fire-robust (expensive) construction methods and clear escape routes (which usually don’t exist on flame zone properties!) Approvals are at the discretion of RFS and they are justifiably reluctant to approve houses in the flame zone!
• Building in the flame zone can be extremely expensive. For example, flame-zone rated windows can be as much as five times the price and you will need to replace them after a bushfire. They are designed with an intumescent layer which hardens in extreme heat to form a barrier against flames. Once fire activates this layer, the windows are no longer functional.
•  A bushfire bunker, coupled with building outside the flame zone, is a far more cost effective option. A bunker can be used as a shelter of last resort during a bushfire. It should, however, form just one part of a bushfire survival plan – leaving early is always preferable.

Plan Ahead

• Always have home and contents insurance. This needs to cover full reconstruction of your home and replacement of your possessions.
• Leaving early is always the best option as it protects your life and reduces the risk to firefighters

Cobargo has been our biggest shock this summer. We never expected that this town would be under threat or experience ember attack. We never expected the buildings in the main street would burn down. Some of these buildings had survived over a hundred summers before this one. By old metrics, the town was not bushfire prone. It was simply too far away from the forest that was on fire to the northwest. Now we know to build for ember attack even in non ‘bushfire prone’ areas: even in town, even in the suburbs. Going forward, we must design new buildings and adapt old buildings to meet AS3959. Also, avoid flammable plantings anywhere near built areas. And finally, there is no such thing as a fireproof house; don’t build in the flame zone. Ever.

Get in touch

Feel free to contact our offices in Canberra and Bowral.

We also operate in Goulburn, the Southern Highlands, Sydney and throughout rural New South Wales.

Mobile: 0404 654 225
Email: hello@archrepublic.com.au
Post: PO Box 1572 Bowral, NSW 2576 and PO Box 3062 Belconnen, ACT 2617
Architect Registration Number: 9651 (NSW) 2525 (ACT)

Contact Us

The post Designing for Bushfire: Rural Architecture in 2020 appeared first on Architecture Republic.

Here are the first five questions we generally ask ourselves and our clients when we are approaching a new renovation or extension in Canberra:

1. Are your internal walls structural?

Before you knock anything down, please grab a ladder (or the original plans of your house) and have a look at the roof space. If you see several rows of neat roof trusses, you’re in luck and many of your internal walls are not structural and can be removed. If, however, you see a random pattern of timber rafters, you may not be so lucky.

Here’s an example of a truss roof system (right) with many internal structural walls, and a rafter or ‘cut’ roof (left). As you can see, the image on the right shows neat rows of the same zig-zag pattern. The structural walls will be at the far left and right sides where the lower points of the ‘triangle’ shape are.Of course, this is a rough guide only and you need to talk to an engineer or an architect before you touch anything. It does give you a starting point for brainstorming how you can alter your floorplan and whether removing walls will be easy or more expensive.

On the other hand, if your internal walls are brick, they will be more difficult and expensive to modify, regardless of the roof structure.

2. Which way is north?

It might be a strange question, but it’s an important one. To maximise the amount of sunlight in winter, you will need more northern windows. This is because in almost all of temperate Australia (including Canberra) the sun is in the northern part of the sky. During summer, the sun flies directly overhead. Throughout the year, the sun will shine in eastern windows in the mornings and western windows in the afternoon.

The best way to design is to maximise windows to the north and east and try to get living areas facing this direction. We tend to reserve garages, bathrooms and laundries for the western side of the building as these will protect the rest of the house from the hot summer afternoon sun. Also, having that warm sun in bathrooms and laundries keeps them dry and mould-free. Because Canberra has such a dramatic climate shift over the course of the year, it is especially important to consider the solar orientation of your house. It affects the star rating more than any other factor including insulation and double-glazing.

3. What setbacks and easements apply to the block?

The ACT has a selection of complicated rules governing where you can and can’t build on your block. These are based on both the size of your block and also the direction it faces. The best thing to do is to head over to ACTMAPI and zoom in to your address on their ‘basic map’. When you click on your block, you will be able to see your block and section number, the block area, the zone, and also any easements on your block (these easements are usually for utility providers to access power or sewer lines and must be kept clear of obstructions like buildings and fences).

Once you have your block size and zone, you can head over to the Territory Plan’s Single Dwelling Housing Code and see what your maximum plot ratio is (that’s the ratio of house size/total block size, usually expressed as a percentage) and also what your front, side, and rear setbacks are. This will dictate how far you can extend in each direction. For a typical block (greater than 500m2 – a ‘large’ block under the ‘Definitions‘ of the Plan) you will have a front setback of 6m (unless your neighbours are closer than 6m, then you get to copy them), sides of 3m and 1.5m – you can pick which side is which, and a rear setback of 3m. This size block also allows for a 0m setback for garages and carports (though, they cannot be forward of the ‘building line’ (the front of the house proper).

Upper floors will have stricter setbacks (and the solar building envelope legislation may also kick in if you have a neighbour to your south) so it’s worth spending some time really going through and researching what you can and can’t do.

Next, you can head outside with a tape measure and see how far you can extend. Keep in mind, though, that spaces always seem smaller when paced out in a backyard compared to once they’ve been built.

4. How much can you afford to renovate?

Renovating in Canberra is typically more expensive than most realise. A master/en suite/robe addition on a flat block (to a ‘standard’ level of finish) typically starts at around $100,000. The more you change the internal layout of the existing home, the more expensive the project will become. Then, there are the potential (pricy) things to consider like asbestos, brick walls that take quite a bit of labour to alter, any structural work that needs doing, plumbing work and fancy windows.

There is no way to estimate how much renovating will cost and builders usually err on the side of caution when doing their costings. This is because, particularly with older houses, once you ‘open up’ a wall, anything could lie underneath.

The best starting point is to chat to your bank and come up with a comfortable figure that you’re willing to spend. It’s also useful to put together a list of “must haves” and “nice to haves” for your design team. Then you can work together with them to decide what inclusions you can have, and what you can go without.

5. What inspires you?

Forget about resale value. While you’re living in the house, it should be yours. Too often, we see people treating their own home as more of an investment than somewhere to live. You aren’t the first person in Canberra to prefer a sunny reading nook to a big media room. You aren’t the only one who wants a practical bay of storage units by the front door instead of a large entry foyer. Adding some wainscoting isn’t overcapitalising if it’s something you’re going to love and enjoy for the next five years.  If you think about the features you want in your home and work to make the space suit your lifestyle, there will be others out there who will enjoy those same features as well, and ultimately pay for them too. So express yourself, enjoy the creative process and at the end of the day, you will have an amazing home that is truly your own.

Good luck and enjoy!

The post Renovating in Canberra? Five questions to ask first appeared first on Architecture Republic.

Houzz.com.au, the world’s largest online community about architecture, interior design, and home improvement awarded Architecture Republic with two of it’s ‘Best of Houzz’ prizes for 2016. One for Service, and the other for Design. We consider our Houzz profile to be our second home on the Internet and use it as a collaborative design tool with almost every one of our clients.

The Houzz Design award is calculated by looking at the most popular portfolio images across houzz.com. One of our projects had several images ranked the highest in our region. The Customer Service award is based on several factors, including the number and quality of recent client reviews. We’d like to thank our clients for their fantastic reviews on our Houzz profile; we’re so glad you had a great experience with us.

Architecture Republic’s ‘Best of Houzz 2016’ Awards

We also received two awards at the inaugural ACT Building Designer’s Awards in Canberra on Wednesday night. We received commendations in the ‘Sustainable/Solar Passive Design’ and the ‘Excellence in Project Documentation’ categories.

The awards night, held at the Canberra Southern Innovations Center, aims to recognise local designers and architects for their achievements in residential design. The award categories showcase the skills and attributes of building design professionals. We have been full members of the Building Designer’s Association since 2011 and it has proved to be an invaluable resource for ongoing professional development and networking within the industry.

Tristan and Jess – Awards at the Southern Innovations Center

We hope that this is only the beginning for our team in 2016. We’re excited to hit the drawing board with many more amazing projects on the horizon. If you’re interested in working with us in the future, please contact us online. We look forward to hearing from you.

The post 2016 Award Winners appeared first on Architecture Republic.

By David Shankbone CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

These differences, especially amongst generic suburban house stock, are usually accidental. One building that perfoms beautifully will sit next to one that is completely useless. The trick is telling one from the other. Finding the low energy houses. They will sell for (or rent out at) the same price. But one will require almost constant electric heating and cooling, lightbulbs switched on even during the day, the most elaborate coping mechanisms (like doing the dishes by hand in winter time – to keep your hands warm) in order to cut electricity (and therefore carbon) consumption. So what do you look for in order to invest wisely in your comfort, reduce your bills and avoid one of “those” houses?

Orientation

The heating and cooling of spaces accounts for the majority of the energy (and therefore carbon) consumed in a house so it is really important to get orientation right. What you are looking for is a house that gets a lot of sunlight coming into it during winter but is nice and shaded in summer. This is actually pretty easy because the sun is in a different position in summer than what it is in winter. In summer, the sun hangs almost directly overhead (rises in the East and sets in the West – something we all know). So living rooms with a lot of windows to the west will get a lot of hot sun coming in all throughout the year – especially in summer. So the first step, especially if you live in a hot climate like I do in Australia is avoid any houses that have main rooms with big windows to the West unless they have a fairly large overhang (like a verandah) that will shade almost all of the sun out. Another solution for west-facing facades is to grow a deciduous climber like Virginia Creeper over the wall. This will shade the house during summer, but when the leaves drop off in winter, the sun will get through and warm up the wall.

During winter, the sun still rises in the East and sets in the West, but as it flies up and overhead, it does it at a more Northern angle in Australia (a more Southern Angle if you live in the Northern Hemisphere). So living rooms that have big windows with no (or a very small) overhang or eaves to the North (South!) is the most important thing. The small overhang will stop the sun getting in during summer but your room will be wonderful and bright and warm during winter. When I was a kid, my dad would always talk about whether a house was “facing the right way” or not. This is what he meant. When looking at a house, is the main living area facing towards the winter sun? This will save you more money on heating than anything else. It is an absolute must for people who live in fear of their heating bills.

Insulation

I have seen first hand the amazing difference that insulation can make to the comfort of a house. Never move into a house that has no insulation in the roof. In summer the roof space inside your h0use can warm to 40 or sometimes even 50 degrees celcius. This heat will radiate down onto you. During winter, the warm air inside your house will rise (warm air rises) and seep up into the roof space leaving you very sad and cold. The roof is the most important part of the house to have insulated. The walls are the next important, followed by the floor. But if you live in a cold climate, make sure there are no cracks in the floor and the wind can’t whistle in underfoot. That is no fun.

Water Heating

The heating of water (for showering, the hot tap in the kitchen and in some cases heating the house) usually accounts for just over a quarter of home energy consumption. Have a look at where the hot water heater is placed. Is it in a shadow under the house? Is it against the hot western wall? The latter will be cheaper because the sun will heat a lot of the water for you. The former will rely entirely on your lovely big carbon footprint.

Glazing

All windows, even the best-glazed of all, allow more heat transfer than even the most basic single leaf brick wall. If you live in a hot climate, avoid houses where a lot of sun is going to shine onto windows (thankfully, houses like the Queenslander generally have shaded verandahs right the way around which cancels out this problem). In colder climates, having a lot of high windows can be an issue. Even if they are double glazed, they are less efficient than the walls around them. Skylights are a big culprit as the heat from your room will rise to the ceiling and then drift through the glass and outside.

Of course, the opposite is true as well. In a cool climate, good north facing windows will let in a lot heat during the day. Just make sure to have good curtains with pelmets to close at night.

A note on curtains – when you shut your curtains during winter, they operate as air conditioners. The small space between the glass of the window and the curtain will get cold because the air outside will cool it down. Cold air sinks. When this happens, the cold air will leak out below the curtains causing a vacuum which will suck warm air in from the top of the curtain. The cycle will continue when this warm air gets cold and leaks out the bottom of the curtain. The best way to stop this is to put a pelmet (or a rolled up blanket) above the top of the curtain to stop the air cycling. It makes a significant difference to the warmth of a room in winter.

Ventilation

In a hot humid climate it is important to be able to open up a house and receive a decent amount of ventilation. The fresh air will prevent the house from becoming musty and damp (if you notice any damp corners when inspecting a house… walk away). Often, you can get enough fresh air by the infiltration of fresh air through the construction (which you may not even notice) but this won’t help cool you down. To maximise ventilation, look for houses that are only one room thick and have windows on both sides of each of the rooms. Another great layout is if one corner of the house has large windows, and the corner diagonally opposite has a small window. The breeze will be most noticeable in the small-windowed-room as the air rushes through the tiny exit. In a hot, dry climate, ventilation is less desirable as the hot, dry breeze will not cool you down at all. It may even make the house significantly less comfortable.

Thermal Mass

Due to their thermal mass, rammed earth walls take nearly twelve hours to transfer heat through from outside:

Image: Architecture Republic. See the whole project here.

Thermal mass is an interesting phenomenon. Think of heavy materials (concrete, asphalt, stone, rammed earth) and how they tend to absorb heat more than lightweight ones. After a long hot day, the surface of the road will still be warm where everything else has cooled down. This is because the road is thermally massive. Thermal mass can be used to your advantage. Little details like heavy stone tiles on the floor below where the winter sun comes in actually do make a big difference to the heat of the room in the evening. In summer, these tiles will remain shaded and cool underfoot. Some of these modifications (like adding some heavy stone tiles under windows) are easy to do yourself and can be taken away once you move on. Other modifications (like installing thermally massive wall heat-banks) are more permanent solutions that will see you into the future.

Time Lag

Time Lag is where the warmth of the day takes a while to get inside the house. This is pretty common with stone, earth and haybale houses (anything that is thermally massive). With insulation, heat will touch one side but will never get through to the other side. With a stone wall, the heat will touch one side, make its way through the thick wall, and (sometimes 12 hours later) eventually make its way inside. This is great if you get hot days and freezing cold nights as during the day, your walls will be cool from the night before. When evening hits, the walls will be warm from the sun being on them all day and will keep you warm at night. BUT! if you live in a climate where the summers are hot during the day and night… and the winters are cold all day and all night (ie: Sydney), then this effect won’t be as important as good insulation.

Colour

Dark colours tend to absorb heat, whereas light colours more effectively reflect the sun’s heat. There is almost n0 advantage to using dark colours on external walls and roofs to assist with heat gain in winter (its better to heat the house from within or by solar gain) but dark coloured floors inside the house (especially where the winter sun will shine) can be advantageous. In summer, dark houses will collect a lot more heat than lighter coloured houses. Recently, in Australia, it has become fashionable to have black roof tiles. One of the more ridiculous ideas in the history of Architecture in this country. Avoid houses like this if you wish to survive the summer.

By keeping all of these principles in mind (and paying attention to the way buildings around you perform) you will quickly be able to tell which houses are going to keep your bills in check and which aren’t. With a bit of creative problem solving, you might even be able to change a few things around in order to make your home more comfortable. Please try to keep in mind that things like orientation, insulation and the placement of thermal mass are much more important than whether your house has a walk-in-wardrobe and what colour the shower screen is.

The post Sustainable, Low Energy Houses appeared first on Architecture Republic.

The stubborn architect and his quest to build structures that are so out of the ordinary that they are built from materials that are essentially garbage has made his achievements remarkable. In fact, it is (for all intents and purposes) illegal to build “true” earthships in Australia because the sewage is treated and recycled within the walls of the building. Something that is very unlikely to be approved by even the greenest town councils.

Unfinished Earthship showing both tyre and glass bottle construction:

By Victorgrigas at en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Earthships or earthship-inspired structures are ideal for people who are interested in pushing their home towards the edge of the established environmental repertoire. They minimise the amount of synthetic building materials required (and maximise the amount of re-used materials) whilst still keeping strict control over the internal temperatures. One of the greatest advantages of the tyre (or hay bale) house is its ease of assembly. The tyres themselves are very affordable and can be piled up in any configuration, straight or curved.

The Earthship (or any tyre or hay bale construction method) allows for fantastically sculptural, curved walls. This has developed into its own bizarre architectural language. We believe that there is a way this style could be pared back to a more ‘wearable’ style for regular homes.

Bathroom in the Phoenix Earthship:

The New Language of Earthships – Image via Wikipedia

There have been three prototype Earthships in Australia that we are aware of. One in Apollo Bay, VIC, another in Northern NSW and a third near the University of South Australia (constructed as part of their Masters of Sustainable Design program) however, to avoid permit issues none of these structures are classed as residences.

The biggest issues with the legislative approval of residential Earthships in Australia are the following:

• Earth-rammed tyre “brick” load bearing walls – as with hay bale construction, there are issues with getting these structures approved as load bearing and often it is required that some kind of timber or steel structure actually supports the roof and the tyres/hay bales are simply infill.
• Recycled aluminium cans and glass bottles as partition walls – although these do not have to be engineered, the construction method is unorthodox.
• Blackwater treatment via solar septic tank, filters and plants as well as treated greywater within the building for toilet flushing – doing anything with blackwater (sewage) is difficult to get approved, having the processes occurring within the walls of the house is close to impossible.
• The unusual appearance of the structures may have approval problems in urban areas if neighbours object.
• According to the Earthships in Australia Facebook Group; “Pockets of (legislative) Freedom” seem to exist where these rules are less likely to be an issue. The most significant of these are in South Australia (but not within 100km of the coast – for example Woomera, Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy) some of inland Western Australia (near the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve) and some of inland (Unincorporated) Western New South Wales and Western Victoria (specifically Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Mildura).

All of these areas are more remote and the Earthship prototype is very suitable for these kinds of conditions. The Earthship has its own water supply and waste system. It treats waste water within the walls of the building so that it can be re-used for irrigation and toilet flushing, thereby minimising water consumption in these desert environments. The earthship also usually includes a greenhouse section incorporated into the open plan living areas of the house for the production of food and extra warmth in winter. The energy of the house is off-the-grid, generated by solar power which also suits it to remote areas. Because of the overwhelmingly thick walls and many of the houses are built into hillsides the thermal properties are also exceptional. These dwellings are very bushfire resistant due to the rammed earth construction and do not require a lot of maintenance because they are so robust.

Because the Earthship prototype was developed in the deserts of New Mexico, USA, the design is similarly suited for the climates of remote Australia (but also some urban areas like Canberra). There are many really interesting elements of these structures (the use of unusual materials, incorporation of greenhouse into living area, re-use of water etc) that can be utilised in more conventional home designs in order to move them towards a more carbon-friendly design. It would be legislatively difficult to build a true earthship in Australia, but all it really takes is for one pioneer to guide the first council through the approval process and set the precedent.

By Erik Wannee (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

The post Earthships in Australia – Would you build one? appeared first on Architecture Republic.

In fact, if you look at an old Victorian plan of a house, most of the labels on the rooms (parlour, drawing room, sitting room, etc) are no longer relevant to the way we live today. In the same way, if a Victorian person was shown a plan with a ‘walk-in robe’, a ‘media room’ or even a ‘garage’, they would be very confused. And yet, we often live inside the same walls they lived in. Just with a few additions and alterations.

If you have a house that was built before the 1990’s, it is likely that when it comes time for you to extend, the new addition of the house will look and feel different to the existing building. Historically, designers would either create their own statement with the extension or match the new part of the house to the old (patching over any awkward junctions with a coat of paint). These are still your main options today. There are both fantastic and awful examples of both alternatives and deciding which way to go really depends on the building you are working with and your own tastes.

Option 1:

– Build the new extension to contrast with the existing house

This is probably the cheapest and easiest option. Building the extension so it is architecturally discrete from the existing house allows you to make your own statement whilst still keeping the existing intact. This is a fantastic option for older, more beautiful homes (i.e.: pre-1940’s) which have their own character. The Australian Burra Charter (a document that sets out guidelines for the conservation of heritage structures and other places of cultural significance) recommends this method with all heritage structures so that the old and the new are clearly discernible. This is why many old stone buildings have lightweight glass-and-steel additions, there are fantastic examples in Sydney’s Rocks district. One of the main elements that need to be considered in this option is the junction between new and old, is it celebrated (by turning it into a feature) or hidden? In the example above, the junction is in an unobtrusive part of the facade, where a tree will be planted in front.

This example is a project where a new addition has been added to a 1980’s brick house. On this side of the building, the old was maintained and the new is a striking contrast.

Option 2:

-Modify the existing house enough to give it a new look that will match the extension

This is a great option for those who aren’t fond of the style of their existing house. Building an extension is the ideal time to modernise windows and facades and even re-roof your house. We’ve found that this option is most popular with people who are living in homes from the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s and the style has either dated or is in need of repair (rotting weatherboard, asbestos cladding etc.) Luckily, many older houses have scope for rendering and even, like in the example below, building a parapet in front of an ugly facade and changing windows and doors in clever ways so that no one would guess that the extension is built on to an older house.

Image: © Architecture Republic.

Option 3:

-Build the new extension to match the existing house

This is a great option for brick or weatherboard houses with a bit of character, but not so much that alterations and additions in a matching style would be disrespectful to the original building. In the example below, we designed the extension so that it would match the original cottage, but is still architecturally discrete. The bricks on the extension only come up to the ‘dado-line’ of the facade and the rest is rendered. The roof-lines and verandah’s, however, match the existing cottage exactly. This gives the facade and elegant and cohesive feel.

Image: © Architecture Republic.

It’s important to talk to a designer about how you would like to weave your extension in to the existing fabric of your building. Make sure that you aren’t just building a ‘box on the back’, there is always something creative that you can do to make your home more contemporary or to celebrate it’s character.

The post Home Extension – What are your options? appeared first on Architecture Republic.

We have created a pinboard to help set out these design guidelines graphically. Essentially, this is an ideas board for architectural precedents based on the official Design Guidelines document. Click the image below to open the pinboard. Have a read of the descriptions on each image for more information about the design ideas. Some of the images are taken from the Design Guide document put out by Googong.net, but most of it are images from around Pinterest that will illustrate the concepts behind the design guidelines document in a clearer way.

If you are interested in working with us to design your home at Googong, please contact us for a consultation.

The post Googong: Architectural Precedents & Design Guidelines appeared first on Architecture Republic.