We are back for more. Mark reporting - This week, we went to a building site in Footscray. This site has been built for 4 years already and it will take another 6 years to finish the construction. This building is an apartment complex with a retail space at the ground level. The project architect Neil, took us into the site and showed us around in different levels. The architect described the structure of this building site and materials used. Also, he showed us the different types of windows constructed and the function of fire water tank. It was very interesting for me because this is my first time visiting a building site. On Wednesday, we had a meeting with three architects to discuss our sustainable house design. They gave us feedback on our design and helped us troubleshoot our questions. After the meeting, we changed our design based on their advice. We are still researching the best materials to use and truss structure for the earth berm. Today, we will keep changing our design and I’ll try to finish the BESS report. Leah reporting - The deadline for the design competition is getting nearer and with three weeks to go we are going to make some major design changes.  We had a meeting with three Peddle Thorp Architects: Stephen, Jessie, and Riya, who kindly and sharply critiqued every aspect of our design. Having an architectural design discussion with these experienced architects was extremely helpful in finessing the program of the building as well as putting us on the right track with materiality and how the structure will support loads from the green roof.  We have decided to have thick in-situ concrete walls to retain the earth berm and transfer it’s loads into the ground, but a lighter weight coated steel truss system to support the green roof. This week we also went on a site visit to 24 Hopkins St Footscray that is currently under construction. I was super excited to see inside as it’s a building site that I have been driving past multiple times a week since the start of its construction roughly 4 years ago. Neil, the project architect, walked us through the design along with some of his project builders and answered all our enthusiastic questions. The building is backed by developers from China and is a mixed-use apartment block.  It was super interesting seeing parts of the structure half-finished as it solidified my understanding about things that I had seen before only in drawings or as finished products. Poornima reporting: - Second week of 2018 and we are still energised and motivated (more due to the 10-star rating we achieved for our house design). Some changes in the windows and doors structure and altering the insulation, lead us to achieve a full 10-stars in FirstRate. Also, we had a meeting with three architects from Peddle Thorp – Stephen, Jessie and Riya, to critique our house design. We showcased our house design, explaining about the competition and intricate details about it. They recommended few changes like changing the structure of the earth berm to make is strong enough to be held by the walls, moving the location of the bedrooms to increase privacy, making the shipping container wider to make the master bedroom the largest, to name a few. They answered our queries related to the passive design and construction material and also, told us about the common architectural practices in Australia that can be implemented by us. We also had an opportunity to go on a site visit in Footscray. The site was a Peddle Thorp project of an apartment building, with shopping complex in lower floors and was shown to us by Neil. It was interesting to see how the actual work is done on sites and the way multiple problems are handled simultaneously. Rest, we are still working on our house design, implementing the changes recommended by architects and will be back next week with our final work!!

 

SBE interns house design critique

 

About SBE

SBE was formed in 2001 by a multi-disciplinary team of industry leaders passionate about the role that the built environment can have in shaping thriving communities and cities.

As a dedicated ESD consultancy, we aim assist our clients navigate the sustainable building landscape and achieving their sustainability goals.

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