Concepts of sustainable design are often given media attention though startling innovations and avant-garde design. However, it is those projects that at first not recognized, but though the ’test of time’ prove themselves to be innovative and appealing to work and visit are worthy of discussion.
The St Alfred’s Church complex is one such project. Located in the leafy Melbourne suburb of North Blackburn the building is a composite of tested ideas combined about welcoming planning and design. This church and educational building is an expansion of an earlier small building that had occupied the site for the past forty-five years.
The Elwood House is a new residential dwelling with a separate garage and studio to the rear. The client’s brief was for a modern family home that was interesting and exciting but not to the detriment of the comfort to the occupants and within a sensible budget. “The client wanted a house that was clean, distinctive and enjoyable to use without feeling like they were an object in their own home because it was of a contemporary design” says the architect, Patrick Jost.
The Project tries to integrate itself in the site through use of materials that have been used before and that are part of local historical background. House’s shape resembles typological archetypes used by country-men and cowboys that lived in the area. Stone, wood and metal are materials used for both structure and construction of the Project. The House have been designed in order to comfort seasonal stay, both during summer and winter, of inhabitants and to let them appreciate as much as possible natural environment surrounding them. This has been done through placement of many glazed frames that grant wider external views. This is the idea I [Designer] wanted to base the project upon: treat interior and external spaces as if they were the same [thing]. Furthermore I propose above mentioned house also like comfortable summer house and not only like winter one. Project is divided in two levels. At the ground level everyday life takes place and it is possible to see the garden from a glazed frame that opens onto a deck. In ‘Under the Moonlight’ House there are two bedrooms, on the second floor, a master bedroom with bathroom and spa.
Location of site: Dinner Plain – Mount Hotham – Victoria – Australia
Date of commencement of project (actual or projected date): 2005
Date of completion of project (actual or projected date): 2007
Site Area: 370 mq
Built-up Area: 250 mq
Image Courtesy Giovanni D'Ambrosio
The House has a sheltered (from snow and rain during winter season) Parking. ‘Under the Moonlight’ House has been designed with care in order to prevent damage to local vegetation and trees. Roof is made out of insulated metal and accomplishes with functionality of any climate. Its brownish colour matches well chromatic shades of Natural Reserve.
The Atrium, a high-density mid-rise office building set in a transitional area of downtown Victoria, challenged its architects: how can a speculatively-built office building revitalize a moribund area and enrich the community at large? How can the economics of high-density, downtown office buildings work in a mid-rise, green-building form?
Software used: Vectorworks CAD predominantly, as well as Sketch-up professional and photoshop. The architects built many physical models of wood and paper board.The wood trusses and the concrete superstructure of the building were both computer modeled (dynamic models to test behavior during seismic events) by the fabricators ‘Structurecraft’ and ‘Stantec’ respectively.
Occupying the length of a city block, the Atrium actively engages its civic context. To complement Victoria’s historical downtown, and reintegrate the block into its urban fabric, the building takes a mid-rise form, built to the street walls to give definition to the public realm. The building’s palette of natural, durable materials invests the district with a welcome sense of commitment.
A transparent ground floor houses cafes and restaurants, inviting people to approach, look in, and stay a while. Rain gardens edge the site, a first for a private development in Victoria, catching and cleaning polluted street run-off, and softening the cityscape.
A seven-storey atrium introduces daylight into the heart of the structure, and maximizes the use of wood in non-combustible construction. The wood, visible from the street through a seven-storey glass wall, distinguishes the atrium from the surrounding offices, and invites the public to animate this urban room. Community groups have taken up the invitation, using the atrium to host such events as an opera performance and a film festival reception.
To create a more animated urban space, the project team commissioned an artist to design an installation for the atrium. This installation treats the atrium floor as a canvas for an abstract mosaic. The work is derived from the building’s lines and uses local marble tiles. Wood sculptures complement the mosaic’s lines, and provide places to sit.
Overhead, innovative wood trusses support a 7,200 square-foot skylight. Panelized hemlock slats follow the sweep of the atrium’s curving walls, and tongue and groove cedar soffits bring warmth and definition to the building’s street level. The family-owned company that commissioned the building ran one of the first lumber companies on Vancouver Island, a history that enriches the meaning of using wood in the atrium.
The atrium not only serves as a public room, but it acts as a return air plenum in the building’s highly efficient displacement ventilation system. Conditioned air is delivered near the floor, so the air requires less cooling. Convection draws the air to heat-generating occupants and equipment, where it’s needed. As the air warms, it rises naturally to exhaust through the ceiling. Displacement ventilation uses less energy to deliver higher quality air more quietly, and is a key component in the building’s LEED Gold-targeted environmental strategies.
A primary ambition for the Atrium was to create a building that will endure, and that will earn the regard of people who will help it to endure. In doing so, the Atrium gives weight to urban fit, sustainability, and occupant well-being as well as to profitability. While an institutional or owner-occupied office building might achieve a similar balance of priorities, as a speculative office building the Atrium raises the standard for its type.
A 2500 square foot house for a retired couple who have an excellent collection of non figurative art. This collection, which includes paintings, works on paper and sculpture, was to be located throughout the house.
This project began when two dentists, who are also father and son, decided that they needed a new building for their growing dental practice – a building that would reflect the quality of their dentistry and modern equipment and a building that would serve their business well into the future.
Flowerdale Community House is the new home for the enormous range of programs run by the residents of this small Victorian town. Located an hour north of Melbourne, the project is on the site of the community house and kindergarten that was destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.
The site is a residential block in Lorne, Victoria. Several large eucalyptus trees are clustered in the southeastern end of the block, offering a treed streetscape context to the site.
The house was to contain individual zones for the couple and their 2 adult daughters, with the opportunity to separate access between the spaces. A large Living and Dining space with outdoor entertaining areas were required, within which all family members and friends could congregate. Another important brief requirement was a space in which the client could practice yoga, offering spatial isolation with an external outlook.
“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso
This project for a family coastal residence is located on a stunning isolated site in eastern Victoria on former farmland. The design is an investigation of how an idealised conception of “house” is transformed by its context and use. The site has extraordinary qualities: harsh prevailing winds of the Roaring Forties; sloping site; and sublime panoramic views from Cape Liptrap to Wilson’s Promontory. The residence required maximum flexibility as a beach home that could accommodate varying sleeping needs – anything from a single guest to burgeoning family summer holidays.
‘Citriodora’ is a holiday retreat set amongst a stand of beautiful Lemon scented gums, near Australia’s famed Great Ocean Road in Anglesea, Victoria. It is one of a number of inspired beach houses that Seeley Architects have designed over the past 10 or so years in this small coastal holiday hamlet.
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