Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Bibliography
Calvin, H (2001), 'Environmental Focus', viewed 05/03/10, http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/architecture/modernresidential/
Clyde, P (2004), 'Chicken Point Cabin', viewed on 10/03/10 http://vectroave.com/2010/02/architecture-chicken-point-cabin-by-olson-kundig-architects/.
Dovey, K (2008), 'Architecture for the Aborigines', viewed 04/03/10, http://www.archmedia.com.au/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=199607&article=13&typeon=3.
Gabori, S (2007), 'Elizabeth Watson Brown Architects', viewed on 07/03/10 http://qag.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2008/place_makers/architects/elizabeth_watson_brown_architects
Henderson, K.H (2007), 'The Marika Alderton House', Journal Issue 20076950, pages 1 - 10.
James, D (2007), 'Chicken Point Cabin', viewed on 07/03/10 http://www.landliving.com/articles/0000000223.aspx.
James, T (1999), 'The Marika Alderton House', viewed on 08/03/10 http://www.jamestaylorassociates.com.au/cgi-bin/cart/cat.cgi?display=5hd2p96d90&br=Special%20Projects.
Kolleeny, Jane F. (2004), 'Architectural Record', 0003858X, Jun2004, Vol. 192, Issue 6
Pritzker Prize Commitee (2000), 'Natural Cooling', viewed 04/03/10, http://architecture.about.com/od/houses/ss/marikaalderton.htm.
Murcutt, G (2002), 'A Singular Architectural Practice', Images Publishing Group, Mulgrave Victoria.
Skinner, P.R., Watson-Brown, E. (2000) St Lucia House, Regional Commendation, RAIA Brisbane Awards 2000.
Skinner, Peter R. and Elizabeth Watson-Brown (2001). St Lucia House. In Patrick Bingham-Hall, Philip Goad and Michael Keniger (Ed.), A short history of Brisbane Architecture: Including Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast (p.100 - 111) Balmain, N.S.W.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Extra Research Found
Chicken Point Cabin
Firm: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects
Link: 2004 AIA Honor Award
Where: Northern Idaho
St. Lucia House
The St Lucia house project is presented here as architectural design research that investigates the improved design of a common and problematic building type, that proposes innovative and replicable responses to a broad range of significant issues in contemporary architectural practice and that demonstrates the succinct synthesis of these ideas in a single built work which is presented for expert testing and peer review. This project, designed collaboratively with Elizabeth Watson-Brown and built in 1997-98, is the most significant outcome of my architectural design research to date and has been recognized by significant awards and critical attention within the discipline of Architecture. The project is the culmination of earlier investigations into lightweight construction methods, passive climatic design for the coastal sub-tropics, critical regionalism, local and international modernism, small-lot housing, flexible intergenerational living arrangements, inside-outside space and spatial sequence in architecture, and has been used to exemplify and illustrate some of these arguments in subsequent research publications. The major claims that can be made for its significance are briefly summarized in the following broad areas:
The startling rise in the percentage of air-conditioned houses in South-East Queensland from 17% to 56% over the past decade, in an era of apparently rising environmental awareness, highlights the urgent need for architecture to make a significant contribution to environmental sustainability through the design of socially-desirable low-energy buildings which provide acceptable physiological comfort in our climate.
Most prevailing ‘environmental design’ models (including those encouraged by the Building Code of Australia) adopt a defensive attitude to climate, accepting air-conditioning use as inevitable and promoting defensive envelope design using insulation and a reduction in openings and infiltration to “conserve” energy in extreme situations. The St Lucia House is premised on the counter argument, that there is little energy to conserve if buildings are designed to be thermally comfortable without the use of air-conditioning. Passive solar gain can mitigate winter discomfort and efficient shading and ventilation can make above-average summer temperature peaks more tolerable. More importantly, the 10° annual average monthly maxima and minima thermal variations should be seen as not only tolerable, but as a positively pleasurable aspect of sub-tropical living if accommodated in the design of the building fabric and celebrated in planning for appropriate seasonal lifestyle.
The St. Lucia House employs generally well-established climatic design principles but the following major strategies are specifically emphasised in this design for environmental and polemical effect:
• Orientation & Form. A very shallow height/depth/length ratio gives due north orientation to every major room.
• Microclimate. Shade, transpiration and evaporation in the heavily treed northern court pre-cools summer breezes.
• Ventilation. The tall, one-room deep house has a 50% openable north wall and high southern openings to maximise cross-ventilation, venturi and convection effects. Internal spaces are designed as openly as possible to maximise air movement, supplemented only by occasional bedroom fan use.
• Solar Gain. The tall north window wall is fully shaded in summer and maximises winter sun penetration.
• Thermal Zoning. Lightweight upper storeys vent and cool rapidly in summer evenings, while earth-coupled lower rooms provide ‘retreat’ spaces using thermal lag effects.
• Appropriate Lifestyle. Outdoor summer living is promoted through easy interrelation of open living, kitchen, deck, barbeque, court and pool areas. Pool-side living spaces are designed for informal use in wet clothing.
Extra Work - Bracket
Swati,
This is the bracket you asked me to represent. This shows how the building roof would work and hold together between beams.
Extra Word - CAD Renders
Just a few renders I made up on my computer.
Daytime showing the house.
Interior View
Interior View
Interior View
Night Shot
Night Shot
Extra Work - Shadow Study
I studied the way the sun would react with my design. The reason I built it the way I did was to maximize shadow underneath building in summer.
Morning
The reason the sun rises on this side is so it is on the opposite side of the house to wear the kitchen is. As in the morning when you wake it will be slightly cooler on that side of the house making it easier to do daily cooking chores.
Midday
Afternoon
Week 4 - Final Design
Week 4, and I have spoken to Swati about what she would like changed. This is the final design that I will be using in my assignment.
Floor Plan
Elevation
Critical Section
Site Plan
3d Drawing
Week 3
In week 3, I submitted a few designs to the tutor to see how she liked them. These were the drawings.
Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
3d Views
Exterior
The photo above shows the extra height in the stilts to allow for use underneath the building. By having the building a little higher it is as if it adds another level but its outside. This allows for more shading during the day if the users wish to be outdoors.
Entrance
Interior View
Interior view of the home. This is in the open plan area looking out. Lots of windows allow for a lot of light, wind and views.
Marika Alderton House Research PT. 2
The house as an environmental filter.
The Marika-Alderton House is hugely reliant on cultural aspects of the indigenous community in Yirrkala, Northern Territory. The house must feel open and feel as if it is part of the land. Previous homes made by the government for the communities to live in were often burned, trashed or abandoned. This is why Glenn Murcutt (Architect of: Marika-Alderton House) was chosen to help design a cheap pre fabricated house that responded to the:
- Climatic Conditions
- As a culturally acceptable place to live by the indigenous
- Simple, Cheap, Easy to Make and Assemble.
The house Glenn created a house that ‘...opens, closes and breathes like a plant’, which was ideal for the cultural people of the Yirrkala region. As described by Marika (resident of Marika-Alderton House) “It’ll probably feel more at home having to be exposed to that (Murcutt - Yes) environmental, um (Murcutt - Connection) connection” [quote taken from BHP Steel Film created about the home]. This shows how important it is for the house to act as an Environmental Filter for the family. Marika says “I mean this is just a house for one family, one need and I’m sure that everyone’s different and there has to be some cases where there’s more than one family”. This is why it was essential for the house to be diverse and applicable to many different families. In one house 2 - 3 families can live, where another 1 family. This is why it was crucial for the house to be culturally aesthetically pleasing. The house made from 6 prefabricated lightweight steel frames, broad plywood coverings and long tallow wood slats. These simple raw materials allow the house to immediately blend in with the rusty soil environment of the Northern Territory.
The house works in one with the environment and uses naturally cooling methods to keep the heat from the house. Shutters, which form the walls of the house, lift up on pivots at the top and hang as awnings out into the natural environment. These shutters allow the house to transform and form an enclosed, yet ventilated space, into essentially, a covered breezeway. The lining in the exterior walls are large protruding fins. These fins, oriented towards the ocean, slow down, capture and redirect the cooling and fragrant ocean breezes into the interior spaces of the house, creating an enhanced and more comfortable environment. The vertical wall surfaces on the interior of the house do not go all the way up. These walls stop short of the ceiling, allowing for the heat in the enclosed rooms to rise above the individual rooms. The air then spreads out over the ceiling of the house and exhausts out through the roof more quickly. By designing in conjunction with the rise and fall of the sun Glenn Murcutt has successfully cheaply, naturally and efficiently cooled this house. The house acts as an environmental filter.
Visual Representation.
The house as a container for human activities.
The Marika Alderton house is utilized by the indigenous community for many different reasons. The house contains many activities such as cooking, playing, sleeping and other normal activities. But the difference between this house and a normal suburban Brisbane home is that it connects the human activities with the environment. By being so open plan it allows the natural elements to intertwine with human activities throughout the house. In the open plan area of the house kids run around and play, jumping in and out through the large windows which allow air flow. Culturally pleasing, the house allows for activities that require large amounts of room in the eastern wing of the home. The large open area can cater for a copious amounts of people and allows for external use.
The house is more an undercover shelter than a home when the all the large windows are wide open. This makes it perfect for when it is much too hot to do any activities outside, but allows plenty of room to do them in shade.
The home is divided into two separate areas. An area for living, playing and being social and a private sector where the sleeping arrangements and toilet area is. By having two obvious parts to the home no one really goes to the private sectors except to retreat by themselves or to sleep. This is why the home is culturally acceptable in Yirrkala as most families are open to one another are always together. This open plan area is where the family mainly spends their time.
Visual Representation:
The House as a delightful experience.
The Marika Alderton house doesn't have a shock and awe point like many of the exemplar houses do. The shock and awe is how well designed this cabin is for the very mainly limitations and constraints Glenn Murcutt had. It is delightful to the indigenous community of Yirrkala as previous housing provided by the government were hotboxes where the temperature rose too high and was almost cooler outside rather than inside. In comparison to the homes they are used to, this is a hugely delightful experience for the people. The breeze ways and the airflow minimizing heat is just the experience the people are after in their hot climate.
The delightful experiences come from the amazing ventilation that Glenn Murcutt brings to the home. The activities that are completed within the house can be done with joy now that the environement is cooler. Beforehand, they were used to constant heat and no where to hide from it. Now with these cheap low maintenance, pre-fabricated homes it allows for delightful experiences for the Yirrkala community.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week 2 - Marika Alderton House
WEEK 2
Week 2 found us choosing our Exemplar house of which we have decided to mimic. The house chosen by myself was the Marika Alderton House. The reason I chose this house was because I felt it would benefit my learning most. Through research I found many techniques that Glenn Murcutt used to naturally cool the house. I believe this will be beneficially now and later in my career as an Architect.
Through visual exploration, I found how Glenn Murcutt cooled the house naturally and powerlessly. Quick easy sketches allow me to explain in theory how the Marika Alderton House works.
The photo above shows how the wide eaves of the house stop most of the sunlight hitting the building. Allowing the building to not heat up as quickly as it could. The stilts provide an air passageway underneath the house. Small gaps in the floorboards allow this cool air to rise into the house. The vents also expel the hot air that rises up into the roof and the open plan living allows for constant breezes to cool the home.
Murcutt uses natural cooling techniques as quickly sketched to the left. By opening the different airways into the house different cooling techniques can be applied. By opening the windows all on one side this allows for the breeze to fly straight through the house and expelling any hot air. Another method is via the roof vents. There are fans on the inside of the roof sucking any rising hot air and shooting them through the vents expelling the air out of the house. Many windows and openings allow for any trapped hot air to be released out of the house therefore in turn cooling the home. The house is meant to open close and breath like a plant. In turn making the home feel in touch with the environment, precisely what the indigenous community of Yirrkala are after.
By using cheap building materials this allows for quick and easy set up. The home is made from pre fabricated materials and requires 2 men to assemble the home start to finish in just 3 days. By using no glass on the building this allows it to be hurricane proof at winds up to 66 m/s (~ 240 km/h). The home is to withstand gale force winds, floods (due to stilts) and anything the weather throws at it. Murcutt pays close attention to the sun, moon, season and designs buildings to harmonize with the light and wind. Hence why the shutters are versatile and allow for opening and closing at different angles depending on any sunlight.
Floor Plan
Elevation
Critical Section
Site Plan
3d Drawing
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