Architecture & Design January_March 2021

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Editor’s Letter BRANKO MILETIC

Contents PEOPLE

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2 PRACTICAL INSULATION

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SOCIAL HOUSING

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BATHROOMS

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OUTDOOR ROOMS

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SUNSHADES

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KITCHENS

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PAINT

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PRODUCTS SHOWCASE

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NEWS

PROJECTS NULLA VALE

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THE BELLFIELD TRIO

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BISMARCK HOUSE

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SUNFLOWER HOUSE

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THE BOWERY

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didn’t take full advantage of the sun and air. Photography by Peter Bennetts.

JAN-MAR 2021

Andrew Burgess Nathalie Craig Adrian Hernandez Antony Martin Hamish McDonald Matthew McDonald Stephanie Stefanovic Robbie J. Walker Tone Wheeler

serves shops and cafes on Bondi Road leading to Bondi Beach, and held single-storey buildings that

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be noticeably different from the surrounding residential neighbourhood, and is located on a lane that

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Branko Miletic editor@architectureanddesign.com.au

suburb of Bondi to showcase the work of its landscape architect client. The house was designed to

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ON THE COVER Andrew Burges Architects created Bismarck House holiday home in the Sydney

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

After what has been a horrible, tumultuous and shocking year, I think it’s high-time we started with a fresh approach to, well everything.

Where better to start than with architecture? One of the few interesting – although unfulfilled ideas coming out from the previous US administration was its desire to put some personality back into building design.

As the Wall Street Journal writes, “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” a new executive order planned by the Trump administration, would thrill lifelong amateur architects George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.”

Furthermore, as the WSJ notes, “Architectural classicism is a living language, not an antiquarian straitjacket.

Its grammar of columns and capitals, pediments and proportions allows a wide range of expression. Just look at the original genius with which Michelangelo marshalled that language in his era or Christopher Wren in his.”

In other words, bland designs need not apply and the use of the past to help influence (but not overwhelm) the present when it comes to design is not such a bad idea.

This is maybe one good thing to come out of all the craziness of 2020; a desire to perhaps put some soul into designs that have for too long become the repository of the practical and the mundane.

Now some may argue that this is a ‘Trumpian’ urge, but I think caution is needed here. Firstly, beauty is hardly the preserve of any one individual, regardless of who they are, and secondly, I think we need to resist overusing that particular adjective. After all, classic architecture is both beautiful as well as totally unconnected with political craziness.

And OK, maybe columns and arches are not your ‘thing’, but the word ‘classical’ too must be rethought of in a new context, while all that is bland, empty, soulless and devoid of any human spirit or soul needs to be put on the cultural backburner.

As Boston-based architect Michael Murphy says, 2021 “… offers us some really unique opportunities and some true questions of accountability and ethics about what we build, what we have built and what we invest in in the future.”

“I think this intersects with questions of ethics and morality and equity that are now present to everybody.”

“This is one of our great existential moments in the built environment”, says Murphy.

I agree, and if you sit back and think about it, so will you.

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25/1/21 2:56 pm

How Moore’s Law is changing the face of Sydney

A walkabout with Sydney’s lord mayor Clover Moore is not without interruptions. When I spent three hours with her traversing the city’s Green Square project there was a lady worried about a Give Way sign needed on a cycling track, and a gentleman objecting to neighbours sunbathing in their undies, all complaints carefully noted.

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Green Square meanwhile is visibly taking shape: a $13 billion urban renewal across 278 hectares of derelict factory sites on flood-prone former wetlands, halfway between Sydney’s CBD and its airport. Handsome apartment blocks are going up, aesthetics and standards enhanced by the Design Excellence strategy adopted under Moore’s 16 years in office, whereby developers go through a competitive evaluation of designs, rewarded by up to 10 per cent extra floor space.

Established architects like Peter Stutchbury have pitched in to retask heritage buildings. New faces emerged like Stewart and Hollenstein with their Green Square Library. The country’s most lavish aquatic and fitness centre opens in the new year. With 30,000 residents already, the centre is halfway to the target of 62,000. New roads, a trunk water drain, a recycling plant harvesting run-off for non-potable water for toilets, laundries and gardens, and sustainable buildings make it a model. Corridors await new transport links, and a site a new school, pending NSW state government decision.

HAMISH MCDONALD: This must feel tremendously rewarding to see all this coming together at last?

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CLOVER MOORE: This was huge. When I became mayor in 2004, as well as dealing with a re-amalgamated council [the former South

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Sydney merged back into the City of Sydney] we had to take on Green Square. We were given the numbers by the government. If you look back to that time, there wasn’t anything like this.

So we really wanted to create an area where people want to live as well as work. And the City Council’s policy of design excellence, where developers have to go through a competition process and they do get various things like more floor space, ensured that this development was going to design beautifully. So we embarked on this, and it’s been huge. It’s very exciting now seeing it come to fruition. We’ve done other huge things right across the city: renewed Prince Alfred Park, Hyde Park and created Harmony Park and Pirrama Park. At Harold Park [the disused trotting drome] the local community wanted only parkland, but we said we had to fulfill the targets that given to us by government. But all the private open space had to become public space, which it did, and that’s all beautifully landscaped now. And we worked with developers to get excellent design there too, as well as affordable housing, just as we have here. We’ve got a fantastic team in the city, and I think it’s a testament to vision and longevity that you can get things done. They’ve been seven premiers while I’ve been doing this work.

HM: Tell us about the sustainability aspects you are trying to build into schemes like this?

CM: When I became mayor, not only did I inherit these big renewal sites, we also joined the C40 Cities group, started by Ken Livingstone in London and Michael Bloomberg in New York, and supported by the Clinton Foundation, bringing together mayors who would work together to reduce emission across the globe. That was because 70 percent of our emissions are in our cities, and so we could make a major contribution to addressing climate change. So that’s our over-arching policy: sustainable city by 2030, getting our emissions down by 70 percent by 2030, being inspired and inspiring other cities too. The emissions are coming mainly from buildings. So if we can get sustainable buildings, emissions down in building we are making a great contribution. I got together with the CEOs of the major building owners in the CBD, in about 2008. By 2011 they had all undertaken to commit to our goals of 70 percent reduction by 2030 – we called it the “better buildings partnership” – and they’ve already got their emissions down by 56 percent and we’re on track by 2030 to reduce them by about 80 percent. They can see the sense.

They are not short-termers, like politicians and political parties who think about the next three or four year term, they’re thinking about the next 30 or 40 years. They know that climate change is a reality.

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HM: And gradually you’ve managed to persuade developers to adopt better design standards?

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CM: It’s really interesting, because there’s a bit of competition there now, about who’s got the best design. We’ve raised the bar. My experience of developers is they want to know what the rules are. It’s only certain people like Harry Triguboff [founder of apartment builder Meriton] who fight you over them. The others understand these are the rules, and if they want to get approval, they’ve got to go through these steps.

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HM: In terms of the aesthetics of buildings – you’ve shown me on the walkabout the difference between what was put up in 2004 or earlier and what is being completed now, you must be very pleased that is happening?

CM: I really am, and I am really pleased that someone like Triguboff is doing design excellence on his other sites in other areas.

Environment is so important to people. You can see that what we are trying to do in that area we inherited was to get lots of landscaping and tree planting to try and soften the edges. If you’ve got good buildings, with landscape that complements the buildings, it’s just a great place to be, where people want to be. It’s incumbent upon leaders to create those great places.

HM: Are there regrets you haven’t been able to do the same in other parts of the city?

CM: I think it’s terrible. The Labor Party used to do a Part 3A to take sites out of councils’ control. This government makes sites “state significant” and really, state significant should be a hospital, or a university, it shouldn’t be a residential apartment block, it shouldn’t be a casino. I guess it says something about the government that these are ‘state significant’ projects. When they do that, they don’t have to jump through the hoops that developers have to do with the standards we’ve set. All those complaints people have about Barangaroo: they got good architects in but unless you have the sort of controls that we’ve developed and apply, that’s the result you get. It’s tragic that sites are taken out of our area because you need to involve the community – business and residents – in developing the plan. The plans about the vision for the area, and all the different projects contribute to that vision. We’ve been able to achieve that with our beautiful street plantings and our design excellence standards, and our beautiful parks. The Green Square town centre site had 18 owners and they were government

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state and local, agencies and private. We had to negotiate with all of them to get the sites for all those facilities that we want and also put in all the infrastructure, the roads, bike lanes, the undergrounding of wires.

HM: Do you think COVID-19 is going to have a lasting effect on the demographics of the city?

CM: COVID is going to change things, in the future. We’ve been through a remarkable period. People were just directed to go home, and they’ve gone home, and they’ve reconfigured their lives. I don’t think it will be the same. The thing about the City of Sydney is that it’s where the action is in terms of startups, people working in clusters. It’s where we have the universities, the parliament, the international headquarters. So there are a lot of things that will continue to be a drawcard for the city. The CBD of Sydney is the economic engine of the state, about 20 percent of the state’s economy, about 9 percent of the national economy, so it will continue, but it will be different. When I was elected in 2004 our platform was a city of villages, getting light rail into the city, and commitment to design excellence. We’ve been able to give identity to the villages: Crown St in Surry Hills, Redfern St in Redfern, Kings Cross, Pyrmont, Ultimo. Now with people working from home, those villages have been reinforced, and that will continue.

It could mean some people will work in the village three days a week and go into the CBD for two days. Now we’ve completed George St, it’s so beautiful and so successful and it’s been embraced by people, and we extending now right up to Central. It’s an attractor of people being in the city, and enjoying their city, and that’s important. It’s a natural instinct to want to engage with other people, to be with other people, to be in the excitement of the city. It could be different in terms of people walking into the city from their different villages, cycling from their villages, and spending part of their time in the village.

HM: How will we get life back into the city post-pandemic?

CM: We’ve worked hard during the height of the pandemic to support business and creatives because they’ve taken such a hard hit. We’ve signed up on a $20 million project – the state’s put in $15 million and we’ve put in $5 million – about having live stage in the city, probably in Cathedral Square, musicians, musicians and performers in our bars and cafes. We will pay

them to perform. That gives a boost to the cafes and bars, and work for our creatives. The state has agreed, at least on a trial basis, to remove regulations that made it quite a lengthy process to get an outdoor dining licence. We’ve waived outdoor dining fees to at least next October.

The government has also been identifying road space that could be used for outdoor dining and that’s really started in The Rocks. So we’re calling it “Sydney’s al fresco summer”. It will complement what the Festival of Sydney is doing. It usually brings international artists so we can see what the rest of the world is doing, but this year that’s not happening, so all that money that would have gone to travel and accommodation for international artists is going to local artists.

HM: What about the lock-out laws that were introduced in 2014 to limit violence at all-night drinking areas like Kings Cross?

CM: I was also local state member for the area that included Kings Cross when that was introduced, and for a number of years beforehand. We lobbied the government over the deteriorating situation in Darlinghurst Road. A lot of that was historic: successive governments had just been handing over licences. There were too many venues, in a small area, with totally inadequate public transport to get people home. The result was the bloodiness we were seeing every week. We lobbied to get 24-hour transport, for planning policy that was about saturation zones. What was wrong with Kings Cross was that there was too many people with nothing to do but drink.

Our experience that that you can provide people with somewhere that is interesting to go to, where’s it’s all happening, and it’s safe and you don’t have to just knock yourself out on alcohol.

But the government went ahead. [Former NSW premier] Barry O’Farrell came in with his sledgehammer to crack a nut and locked down everything. It really killed live music and social life for a lot of young people. Anyway the lock-out laws were lifted after five years, apart from Kings Cross. But over that 5-year period things have changed at the Cross. A lot of the high-risk venues have gone, people go to the gym now rather than get drunk in a bar.

Now Kings Cross is catering much more to the residential population. It’s got civilised, back to its Bohemian character and history. One of our grants during the lockdown was to a bar called Dulcie’s who kept going by serving takeaway cocktails. Their primary customer base was gay men and old ladies.

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The buildings of tomorrow.

The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) was the first building in Australia fully accredited under the Living Building Challenge (LBC), as well as being the Illawarra’s first six-star Green Star Building. The LBC is arguably the highest built environment sustainability accreditation in the world today with its ambition to encourage buildings to be net zero energy and water, to connect more readily with the natural environment, and provide comfortable and restorative places to live and work.

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The building also meets the high standards demanded by the material and waste requirements of the LBC with the BlueScope materials used being manufactured locally and incorporating recycled content. BlueScope is also committed to sustainable sourcing practices that create, protect and build long term environmental, social and economic value.

The COLORBOND® steel Environmental Product Declaration is available at steel.com.au/epd. For information about specifying BlueScope products, please visit steelselect.com.au or call our technical team on 1800 753 658.

Architect: Cox Richardson Architects. Project: Sustainable Buildings Research Centre. Location: Fairy Meadow, New South Wales. COLORBOND®, Coolmax®, BlueScope the BlueScope brand mark and ® colour names are registered trade marks of BlueScope Steel Limited. © 2020 BlueScope Steel Limited ABN 16 000 011 058. All rights reserved.

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24/11/20 1:43 pm 16/12/20 8:53 am

Social housing at last

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Social housing is the topic ‘de jour’, with many columns devoted to it recently.

The comments received contained two questions that need to be answered: How big is the problem? And are there any successful examples?

QUESTION ONE: HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM OF SOCIAL HOUSING? Australia currently has about 10 million households (if you include the homeless who would like to be counted as a household). Only 4 percent of those households, or 400,000 dwellings, are public or social housing. It was once as high as 20 percent in the 1950s, but it has been falling ever since.

That falls well short of the 20 percent of households that need social housing.

These households are in the lowest quintile whose income (social wage, working poor or homeless), cannot provide an affordable rental dwelling. More precisely, the desirable measure of one third of their income is well below what commercial markets require for accommodation.

(Not to be confused with the 20 percent in the fourth quintile that struggle to afford rental dwellings in an over-priced market. The solution for them is preferably ‘build-to-rent’.

The remaining 60 percent are owner-occupiers.)

If social housing is to become 20 percent of our stock, a gold standard, as it is in advanced social democracies like Denmark, then we need to build a huge increase, very rapidly. Just how furiously can be seen in simple arithmetic.

Let’s take a 15-year horizon: in that time, it is estimated that the number of households will rise by 2.3 million, to 12.3 million. 20 percent of that total, as social housing, would be 2.5 million households. Allowing for the 0.4 million we have now (assuming we stop selling them) means 2.1 million need to be built - almost every dwelling to be constructed in 15 years! Clearly, this is not going to happen.

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What if we were to lower our expectation by half, to say 10 percent or 1.23 million social housing dwellings? That’s an increase of 800,000 in 15 years, or over 50,000 per annum, or one third of all dwellings built. This would be realistic only if there was a dedicated program for social housing, which we don’t have, so it remains beyond the realms of belief.

The need for this huge program is why social housing is the most important architectural and town planning, not to say moral, issue before us.

For that reason alone, Josh Frydenberg’s recent budget that ignores social housing is a complete ethical failure, condemning Australia to many more years of social inequity. It would make a brown dog weep.

QUESTION TWO: ARE THERE ANY SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS? Social housing in the future could come from two areas: large-scale public housing by State Housing Authorities (SHA) and small-scale initiatives by ‘not-for-profits’, such as Churches and Community Housing Providers (CHP).

There is only one recent example of widespread implementation of diverse public social housing: the Rudd government’s Social Housing Initiative (SHI) in the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan (NBSEP) in 2009-11. This plan included the Building Education Revolution (the BER aka Halls and COLAs) and Energy Efficiency Homes (aka Pink Batts) initiatives discussed last week.

The SHI had three aims: to increase the supply of social housing via new builds and repair and maintenance; to provide increased

opportunities for people who are homeless or at risk to gain secure long-term accommodation; and to stimulate the building and construction industry. $5.238 billion was spent for some 17,460 dwellings built, at an average cost of $300,000 per dwelling.

Although touted as “the SHI is the largest commitment by any government in Australia to social housing” it is dwarfed by the Chifley Labor initiatives after WW2 that grew public housing to 20 percent, much of which we rely on for today’s 4 percent. And the amount spent pales in comparison to the $16.2 billion spent in the BER. Nevertheless, it achieved its aims without controversy, and it did show what was possible if the federal government set its policy directions to social progression. Will we ever see the like of that again? We can only wonder what we could have had if Labor was in power now to run that program again. If only Clive Palmer and Bob Brown hadn’t destroyed Labor‘s chances in Queensland in the last election.

Tone Wheeler is principal architect at Environa Studio, Adjunct Professor at UNSW and is President of the Australian Architecture Association. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and are not held or endorsed by A+D, the AAA or UNSW.

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25/1/21 2:55 pm

On outdoor rooms Is there such a thing as Australian architecture in dwellings?

A question that is somewhat out of vogue as we strive for ‘world-class’ design; and mass media renders local identity, and Kenneth Frampton’s idea of ‘critical regionalism’.

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But I would argue that at key times we have found a national, or rather regional style, and that it is important to rediscover those traits, not for any nationalist cause (heaven forbid in these right-wing populist times), but because it is a way of finding sustainable house designs.

Let’s start at the beginning. The earliest settlers made the houses they knew from England and Ireland; four-square crofters’ cottages and bald-faced Georgian houses; once able to be seen at ‘Old Sydney Town’ a recreation of pre-Macquarie Sydney built in Somersby as a tourist attraction in 1975, that closed in 2003.

Their transformation into more climatically appropriate dwellings is a story told elegantly in J. M. Freeland’s standard reference text of 1972, Architecture in Australia, citing designs to protect from the hotter sun and warmer climate, such as wider eaves that sometimes extended into verandas. But I think more fundamental changes were afoot.

One way to see the complete overturning of the vernacular house ideas from the ‘old dart’ can be found in a curious place: a hilarious piece of

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writing by the Irish comic writer Flann O’Brien in his best known, but sadly posthumous, novel The Third Policeman. It is a murderer’s first-person account of his encounters with a strange twodimensional police station and ruminations on many things such as time and death, written in a style not unlike Spike Milligan’s better-known book, Puckoon.

Amongst the comedic elements is a satire on academic research and writing, told in a running commentary on the exploits of one ‘De Selby’, an author who holds wild opinions refuted by researchers from throughout the world (all inventively footnoted and completely fictitious). The key passage for our current concerns is: “De Selby has some interesting things to say on the subject of houses. A row of houses he regards as a row of necessary evils. The softening and degeneration of the human race he attributes to its progressive predilection for interiors and waning interest in the art of going out and staying there. This in turn he sees as the result of the rise of such pursuits as reading, chess-playing, drinking, marriage and the like,

few of which can be satisfactorily conducted in the open. Elsewhere he describes a house as ‘a large coffin’, ‘a warren’, and ‘a box’. Evidently his main objection was to the confinement of a roof and four walls. He ascribed somewhat farfetched therapeutic values – chiefly pulmonary – to certain structures of his own design which he called ‘habitats’, crude drawings of which may still be seen in the pages of the Country Album. These structures were of two kinds, roofless ‘houses’ and ‘houses’ without walls.

The former had wide open doors and windows with an extremely ungainly of tarpaulins loosely rolled on spars against bad weather – the whole looking like a foundered sailing-ship erected on a platform of masonry and the last place where one would think of keeping even cattle.

The other type of ‘habitat’ had the conventional slated roof but no walls save one, which was to be erected in the quarter of the prevailing wind; around the other sides were the inevitable tarpaulins loosely wound on rollers suspended from the gutters of the roof, the whole structure being surrounded by a diminutive moat or pit bearing some resemblance to military latrines.

25/1/21 2:55 pm

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16/12/20 8:48 am

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In the light of present-day theories of housing and hygiene, there can be no doubt that De Selby was much mistaken in these ideas but in his own remote day more than one sick person lost his life in an ill-advised quest for health in these fantastic dwellings.” (Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman, 1967, Dalkey Archive edition 1999).

His critique is in support of traditional Irish housing, and the threat of possible changes, expressed as De Selby’s dread of houses with ‘wall-less roofs’ or ‘roofless walls’. And what are these two abominations? Why, no more than verandas and courtyards; the very foundations of the transformation of the original imported Irish cottages into uniquely Australian homes. This passage doesn’t sound like criticism to Australian ears; rather it’s a recipe for Australian residential architecture: one that meets our climate and lifestyle, two key ideas for sustainability.

One of Freeland’s key themes was the extent to which the veranda developed in extent and complexity to become a hallmark of Australian

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architecture, originally intended to keep the sun off the windows and the heavy rain off the poorquality bricks, that morphed into passageways in enfilade plans, and eventually to rooms in their own right.

The ‘veranda’ was often appended to a ‘bungalow’, a house type familiar to the NSW Corps after their posting to India, from where these two key words enter our language: veranda comes from ‘baranda’, the Portuguese settler’s word for a balustrade needed on an elevated deck; and a ‘bungalow’ is a single-room deep house found in tropical Bangalore (now Bengaluru) from which the name derives.

The other ‘outdoor room’ is a courtyard, internally located but external; ‘open to the sky’ in the immortal words of Indian architect Charles Correa. The interior rooms open into this protected space, both in terms of privacy from the outside world, and as a defense against a harsh climate – either hot and dry or windy and cold. The former features a water feature or

fountain, the latter a fire, perhaps in a pit. The four fundamentals: earth, air, fire and water.

This typology was not so obvious or immediate in its uptake in Australia, but its use was nevertheless widespread, particularly in the country. What is remarkable in Peter Freeman’s thoroughly researched 1982 book, The Homestead: A Riverina Anthology, is the degree to which in every site he investigated (and drew meticulously) the houses evolved around a courtyard. And mostly with external, covered circulation, veranda and courtyard combined.

Modern architecture in Australia took these forms to heart: the verandas in the seminal houses by Glenn Murcutt, and the SEQ houses by Rex Addison, the Clares, ‘tent-man’ extraordinaire Gabriel Poole or Darwin’s Troppo.

For courtyards look no further than the doyens of Melbourne modernism’s own houses: Robin Boyd’s looping steel cabled canopy over the courtyard separating children and parents, and Roy Grounds’ circle inside a square.

25/1/21 2:55 pm

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The natural consequence is a lower energy demand for thermal comfort, all as a part of an ‘indooroutdoor’ lifestyle.

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There are two further interesting design issues for both types of outdoor rooms: their naming and their use as a driver of energy saving.

A curiosity that I have not seen remarked elsewhere is that internal rooms are named for their use (living room, bedroom, bathroom, study, etc); whilst outdoor rooms, by contrast, are described by their form or typology (porch, loggia, veranda, balcony, terrace, deck, courtyard, arcade, stoop, etc). This seems true in English and the ‘Romance’ languages, deriving many of these words from ‘Vulgar Latin’.

The upshot is that outdoor rooms are seen as more flexible in their use than their quotidian internal counterparts. Which leads to the second point: sustainability.

The logic goes: if interior rooms are opened through doors to a veranda or courtyard it is likely that occupants will open them whenever the climate is pleasant, and with the doors open it is unlikely that occupants would try to condition the interiors, and they will adjust their clothing, lifestyle or expectations accordingly – a lower acceptable temperature in winter and vice versa in summer. The natural consequence is a lower energy demand for thermal comfort, all as a part of an ‘indooroutdoor’ lifestyle.

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An evocation of the multiple uses, and thermal comfort / low energy outcomes in outdoor rooms are eloquently captured in Johnno, David Malouf’s 1975 memoir of his early years in Brisbane after WWII, where he describes the dark interiors of his boyhood home: “Such rooms were used only after dark.

Daytime visitors were entertained on the front verandah among white cane chairs and potted ferns…. Here, on a cane lounge, my mother and other ladies took their afternoon nap, and here we were settled when we were sick, close enough to the street to the street to take an interest in the passing world of postmen, bakers, icemen and newspaper boys with their shrill whistles, but out of the sun. Here too on warm evenings, with a coil burning to keep off the mosquitoes, we sat after tea, while my father watered the lawn…. On very hot nights, when the family had gone inside to play bridge, I was allowed to come and sleep out on the front verandah – though it scared me to be so close to the garden, with just the cast-iron and Venetians between me and the dark.” (David Malouf, Johnno, UQ Press, 1975) The question that we might now ask in our quest for more sustainability in home design is: can we capture this joy of life in a built form.

What is the relationship between sustainability and lifestyle, that all-too-ridiculed word so closely linked to sustainability?

What are the lessons from the shaping of past outdoor rooms in developing greener houses for the future? What would happen if we were to extend the idea of outdoor rooms further and what new forms would they take? Can we foresee possibilities of lower levels thermal comfort and greater enjoyment of the climate?

Are the ‘al frescoes’ or ‘salas’ increasingly found in project homes a harbinger of real change, or just an advertising gimmick?

Critically it is the use of the space as much as its design. The form of the outdoor room may be of first importance to designers, but for residents it may have many uses, as David Malouf’s was, in the search for an enjoyable, non-air-conditioned, outdoor future.

Tone Wheeler is principal architect at Environa Studio, Adjunct Professor at UNSW and is President of the Australian Architecture Association.

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The basically sustainable Nulla Vale house & shed

To reach Nulla Vale, you continue driving past Tullamarine Airport for an hour. Just past the airport the landscape changes from tract housing to pastoral land and small rural communities.

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RIGHT The house is constructed from salvaged bricks and corrugated 14

iron in addition to rough sawn timber and new galvanised roofing.

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The landscape setting is exposed and somewhat severe, there is beauty but harshness also. The house and shed are designed to stand up to this setting...

OPPOSITE The interior is deliberately designed to evoke the experience of sleeping in a shed.

PAGE 18 The site is a 300-acre parcel of pastoral land that is dotted with granite outcrops 16

and the occasional gum tree.

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Dotted along the drive are old agricultural out-buildings and early settler dwellings. Simple structures, almost primitive, that are part of the landscape. Nostalgia for this connection between land and building was the guiding principle for our Nulla Vale House and Shed.

A back-to-basics retreat was the brief. The interior is deliberately designed to evoke the experience of sleeping in a shed. An antithesis to the clean, white, city home of the clients providing a warm and textured retreat for them to escape to.

The project is sited on a ‘desire line’ running through the 300-acre granite flecked property, a saddle of land with views in all directions, but exposed to strong south-westerly winds.

Protection from the wind is created by facing away from the south and opening to the north, creating sheltered living spaces that are naturally lit and warmed.

The landscape setting is exposed and somewhat severe, there is beauty but harshness also. The house and shed are designed to stand up to this setting – the earthy palette and clear gable forms evoking the weathered agricultural outbuildings found in the surrounding hills.

Much of Nulla Vale is ‘granite country’, a landscape that is both beautiful and harsh.

A landscape created through geological conditions over millions of years and by land clearing and grazing. The granite outcrops created by the erosion of soft rocks leaving the hard-igneous granite exposed. The site is a 300acre parcel of pastoral land that is dotted with granite outcrops and the occasional gum tree.

“Our clients are intending to eventually build their full time home on this land. But to begin with they asked for a place to be able to stay, a basic dwelling with the minimum of amenity. Somewhere they could spend weekends as they make a connection to the land and begin their caretaking period of the site. The design is intended to anticipate the final home without predetermining it. They also required a shed to house land care equipment and the PV panels and battery required to power the house. With no mains connection to services of any kind the house is 100 percent off-grid,” say the architects.

The shed and house are identical in their overall dimensions and from a distance their silhouette is the familiar gable-ended form

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commonly associated with farming sheds. Up close, however, the two structures are clearly defined as shed and house through material, void and volume. The shed was custom designed directly with a shed fabrication company using their systems to create a shed that is part storage part entryways. It was clad entirely in heritage grade corrugated galvanised iron with a roof oriented and pitched to maximise solar exposure through the seasons.

The house is constructed from salvaged bricks and corrugated iron in addition to rough sawn timber and new galvanised roofing on preengineered timber trusses that are left exposed both inside and out. Materials were selected to meet the clients’ brief that house fit within the cognitive idea of an ‘old shed’. Internally the finishes are the same as outside, no plasterboard and no paint.

The house provides the means to eat, sleep and wash in a space that is part of the experience of being on the site and not removed from it.

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THE SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES • Compact footprint orientated to optimise northern solar access.

• Efficiently milled radial timber batten and board cladding installed green without high energy kiln drying.

• Material use minimised, reflective insulation blanket as ceiling finish, soffit unlined.

• Roof overhang calculated to protect from the hot summer sun, low winter sun is invited deeply into plan, absorbed by burnished concrete slab.

• Additional thermal mass provided by double brick walls insulated with 80mm thick spray foam.

• High performance timber windows positioned for cross-ventilation and night-purging.

• Lifecycle cost carefully considered as building will be extended when the owners make permanent tree change.

Western wall is lightweight framed and the large double hung window is salvaged so it can be removed when the house is extended.

• Prefabrication of trusses and custom designed shed utilised to enhance buildability and reduce wastage as all components carefully sized in the factory.

• 5.2 kWp PV system .

• 2 X 20,210L rainwater tanks.

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The Bellfield Trio ARCHITECT ROBBIE J WALKER PHOTOGRAPHY ANTHONY RICHARDSON

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In an unexpected part of Melbourne, a series of three townhouses have completely revitalised what was a difficult site through a clever and progressive design that stands boldly in the streetscape.

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ABOVE Light and a connection to the outdoors is also foregrounded with living spaces opening out onto terraces.

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Designed and built by Robbie J Walker, this urban infill project shows what is possible when creativity comes together with determination, having taken close to a year for council approvals.

The resulting outcome could even be used as a blueprint for the future of Melbourne’s suburbs.

Wedged on a jagged and challenging site, the project makes the most of the unusual shape, resulting in two traditional homes, while one tackles the plot with more acute, sharp angles.

Although certainly adding layers of complexity to the overall design, it was because of the site’s inherent issues that Robbie J Walker was able to more easily acquire the land for the project.

Several design features set this project apart including the integration of a rooftop terrace, a first of its kind in the area.

The materiality both inside and out also speaks to an Australian vernacular, while maintaining an eye on budgetary constraints, with the façade

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defined by corrugated iron and vertical timber panelling. Inside besa block concrete walls are softened by polished timber floors, polished concrete and white minimalist joinery.

Each of the three houses consider liveability and durability, having ultimately been designed for growing families. Light and a connection to the outdoors is also foregrounded with living spaces opening out onto terraces, while the internal stairs have been designed without risers, essentially allowing light to filter across multiple levels.

In this project Robbie J Walker shows the value that can be created on challenging sites when ingenuity and design are combined. It also shows exactly how Melbourne suburbs can be reinvigorated for the future.

Given the unusual angles, the site itself presented the biggest challenge on this project.

For many the site was just too unusable but we

saw it as an advantage for many reasons. Firstly, it allowed us the opportunity to purchase a decently-sized piece of land to develop.

Secondly, it meant the design had to be highly resolved in order to be successful.

The project is unique in that it uses a site that presented a big challenge. Through the design process and the design response, the trio of townhouses brings together a distinct Australian identity through its use of materiality, namely corrugated iron and timber panelling.

The forms seen on the façade also look modern and contemporary, showcasing how good design can create a new kind of streetscape.

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LEFT Designed and built by Robbie J Walker, this urban infill project shows what is possible when creativity comes together with determination.

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THE SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES • Large amount of thermal mass in the floor and double height solid block wall helps the building maintain a steady climate.

• The roof top deck is constructed entirely of timber abs floating above the entire roof helping the building stay cool.

• Water tanks feeding toilets gardens.

• Use of timber only Australian and sustainably grown.

• An honest structure – much of the building is uncovered meaning less materials used.

• Built to last.

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WORDS ANDREW BURGES ARCHITECT ANDREW BURGES ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPHY PETER BENNETTS & PRUE RUSCO

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Bismarck House

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The Bismarck House is the younger sibling of a pair of semi-detached dwellings in Bondi. The design uses raw materials and sculpted spaces to integrate house and garden while orchestrating social interactions between the more public areas of the house and the laneway that runs along the semi’s northern boundary.

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The studio worked with the idea of a “continuous garden”... to place the garden at the heart of the scheme.

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The house, which was shortlisted in the house interior, residential rebirth, and urban house categories for the Dezeen Awards 2020, was designed for Will Dangar of landscape practice Dangar Barin Smith, to be noticeably different from the surrounding residential neighbourhood.

“Bondi is a popular coastal place set within beautiful geography but marked with an agglomeration of poor quality building stock,” says Andrew Burges Architects founder, Andrew Burges.“The idea was that the house would function primarily as a site for holiday rentals, while also demonstrating the capacity of our client’s construction and landscape design companies.”

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The site is located on a lane that serves shops and cafes on the Bondi Road leading to Bondi Beach, and held a single-storey building that didn’t take full advantage of the sun and air.

The architects kept the front room and porch of the existing house and worked within the envelope of that space, but the rest of the original building was demolished with the bricks cleaned and reused for the new, twostorey construction.

“We were interested in the laneway for its potential for social interaction between the house and lane, the grittiness, and also the opportunity, given the client makes gardens, to create a footprint that extended the presence of the garden along the length of the laneway,” says Burges.

The studio worked with the idea of a “continuous garden” as a way of organising and maximising the space, and to place the garden at the heart of the scheme. In order to create a fluid relationship between the inside and outside, the studio considered both the garden and the building itself as the ground floor of the house.

“Our starting point was to think of the site boundary of the house as the ground level house enclosure,” says Burges.

“Glazing and walls form moments within the site boundary that also happen to make thermal and rain enclosures, but these alignments have not been considered as the house perimeter – the site is the perimeter,” he adds.

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a fine-set plaster that has been applied to the walls and ceilings.

Photography: (opposite & above) Prue Rusco, (right) Peter Bennetts.

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THIS PAGE & OPPOSITE The interior is dominated by proyalbi,

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This concept influenced the materials for the ground floor, which were chosen to reinforce a robust outdoor character.

“All parts of the ground level were considered as outdoor materials, evident in the tiled kitchen, timber window seat, brick stair, mesh balustrade, face brick and mortar washed walls, raw steelframed glazing, galvanised steel columns and awnings, and concrete floors,” says Burges.

The downstairs rooms open up towards the garden and the laneway, while a succulent garden was elevated to protect the rear bedroom on the top floor from the low westerly sun.

“The site was chosen for its north-east aspect and the potential for borrowing light along the northern laneway,” Burges explains. “The building footprint is intentionally restrained in size – to allow garden and light to fold between the lines of enclosure.”

While the materials used on the ground floor were chosen for their natural, raw qualities, the upper level, which houses three bedrooms, was designed to be lighter but more monolithic.

“The exterior is defined by a screen in perforated aluminium sheet – a standard perforated sheet ordered off the shelf in mill finish aluminium,” said Burges. “The sheet was pleated so that the pleat dimension lands on every second rise of the corrugated sheet walling that provides enclosure beneath the screen.”

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Robust materials were chosen for longevity and their suitability for integrating energy efficient heating and cooling. The concrete floor slabs at ground and first levels are the final finished slabs and soffits. Each floor has hydronic heating coil cast in – a long view cost choice.

Upstairs, the curved external walls are sheltered by a pleated, perforated screen forming permanent shade, (supplemented by the Bismarck palm canopy). The light scoops cut out of the floorplate allow the bedrooms to be oriented diagonally across the lane and open the site to the north and north east.

The undulating shape of the top floor helps let light into the garden below, as well as into the kitchen through a skylight. The curved wall also means the bedrooms benefit from windows that don’t look directly out onto the buildings across the laneway.

The interior is dominated by proyalbi, a fine-set plaster that has been applied to the walls and ceilings.

Hardwearing concrete floors and galvanised steel handrails were used for the upper level, continuing the theme of combining function and beauty, while the house seeks to energise its laneway context, transforming the typical semi typology materially, formally, and socially through its response to the lane.

ABOVE The site is located on a lane that serves shops and cafes on the Bondi Road leading to Bondi Beach, and held a single-storey building that didn’t take full advantage of the sun and air.

Photography by Peter Bennetts.

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Talking Architecture & Design Podcast

Uncovering what really goes on behind the scenes in the world of architecture and design‌ Episode 60: Tisha Lee a director at K2LD explains how the design world is adapting to our new normal. Since graduating from the University of Melbourne, Tisha Lee has accumulated over twenty years of experience working on significant educational, residential, and civic precincts. Tisha says that design, as well as designers, are changing and adapting and even thriving to the new normal reality that is the way we live, work, and play.

Now available for listening on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google, Soundcloud and Buzzsprout.

Search Talking Architecture & Design to stream or download episodes.

If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review.

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The Sunflower House

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ARCHITECT KOICHI TAKADA ARCHITECTS EDITED BY BRANKO MILETIC PHOTOGRAPHY DOUG AND WOLF

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farmland and yellow fields of sunflowers,where heat waves are becoming more frequent and extreme.

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ABOVE Sunflower House is designed for the Italian region of Umbria, renowned for its rolling

Koichi Takada has a bold vision for the future of architecture, powered by the ancient wisdom of nature.

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As a global leader in sustainable design, Koichi Takada has been commissioned by Bloomberg Green to imagine the dream home of Europe’s greener tomorrow.

One century since the Bauhaus movement reshaped the West through their modernist designs, Koichi Takada has been recruited to help create a new common aesthetic born of the urgent need to combat climate change.

The New European Bauhaus gained gravitas following a speech in October by the president of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, who called for a new climate project with “its own aesthetics, blending design and sustainability” and proclaimed “a new European Bauhaus movement” was required.

Takada’s response to that challenge is Sunflower House, a carbon-positive singlefamily dwelling in Le Marche, Italy inspired by the distinctive yellow flower and powered by the sun. “Climate change must be a catalyst for positive change, beginning with our humble homes,” says the Tokyo-born architect based in Sydney.

The original Bauhaus, an early 20th century collective of designers and craftspeople, is behind much of what we recognise today as

modern architecture – clean, sleek, hard. “For the future of the planet we must shift from industrial to natural. We need a kinetic, living architecture that respects the environment while enhancing the wellbeing of the humans who inhabit it”, says Takada.

Sunflower House is designed for the Italian region of Umbria, renowned for its rolling farmland and yellow fields of sunflowers, where heat waves are becoming more frequent and extreme. Elevated from the ground to minimise interference with the biodiversity of its surroundings, the solar panels on its petaled roof rotate on sensors for maximum sun exposure.

“Artificial structures require large foundations, but with sunflowers nature achieves a beautiful balancing act,” says Takada. “There is minimum intervention on the ground so the earth has room for other activities, yet the sunflower magically nods its head to bathe in the light.

The Italian word girasole literally means ‘turn to the sun’.”

The circular structure of Sunflower House rotates around a central “stem” to follow the sun, allowing the moving “disc florets” to produce up to 40 percent more energy than static panels.

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Go beyond the INDE.Awards with

| 5 August 2021

Join us for the inaugural INDE.Summit 2021. A full day conference proceeding the INDE.Awards Gala. Learn and be inspired from the best local, regional and international experts on topics that define architecture and design in our region.

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ABOVE Energy that isn’t used can be fed onto the grid or stored in battery “seeds” and rainwater is collected and used for irrigation and toilet flushing.

Energy that isn’t used can be fed onto the grid or stored in battery “seeds” and rainwater is collected and used for irrigation and toilet flushing. The perimeter around the roof shades the windows below and aids in ventilation, and a secondary rotating mechanism over the glass walls protects the building from solar radiation.

“For the Bauhaus form followed function, but we say form follows nature,” says Takada.

Each floor of Sunflower House hosts a two- or three-bedroom apartment, and each building can be as high as three stories. Scalability opens up the possibility of creating a climate-positive

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neighbourhood inspired by sunflower fields, in which the plants self-organise, unfurling in a zigzag pattern to avoid overcrowding and maximise exposure to sunlight.

“Designers and architects talk about drawing inspiration from nature in an aesthetic sense but we must go much deeper than that,” says Takada.

“It’s not just about making a building look natural, it’s about creating positive environmental change in the homes we live in, the neighbourhoods we work and play in, and ultimately the planet we are privileged to inhabit,” he says.

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SAVE THE DATE 11 NOV 2021 Join us in recognising and rewarding the leaders in Australian sustainable design at the annual Sustainability Awards and Summit. Now presented in a unique hybrid format of in-person events and a digital experience you can attend from anywhere.

ENTRIES OPEN IN JUNE sustainablebuildingawards.com.au

sustainablebuildingawards.com.au 11 NOVEMBER 2021 | PLAZA BALLROOM, MELBOURNE IMAGE Akubra House by Alexander Symes Architect | 2020 Sustainability Awards Winner of the Single Dwelling (New) category. Photo: Barton Taylor.

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The Bowery WORDS ADRIAN HERNANDEZ ARCHITECT ALH+ PHOTOGRAPHY TOM FERGUSON

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Willoughby by wrapping the Bowery in Bowral Gertrudis brown “base” and Bowral Blue “top” articulate and define the architecture.

The Bowery uses brick loggias, an external space to the side of a space (usually residential) with columns defining its perimeter, on the lower levels and a fine colonnade on the upper levels to resolve a number of competing requirements.

The material selection was also such that it minimised any maintenance concerns and as well as easily aligning with the history of place.

The reinterpretation of the loggia on the lower levels are taken to the boundary line, creating expanding and contracting openings, providing privacy from the busy street.

The vertical loggia blades for the balconies also creating a strong sense of an “outdoor room” as an extension of space for the apartments connecting the inside with the outside.

Their articulations respond to the street being wider and more solid providing protection, an initial buffer from sounds, visual privacy and continuing the masonry base characteristic of the precinct.

The simple brick gesture engages The Bowery with the existing brick context. The gesture is treated in an unpretentious manner relying on its materials, proportions responding to uses and is invigorated by the subtle changes that create a variety of very useful “layers” for commercial spaces and residents.

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The site is a gateway site to a retail/ commercial strip that is struggling, like many other similar locations in Sydney, to adapt to contemporary retail demands with poor quality living opportunities and a very busy road to contend with.

The project addresses how to potentially re-address these issues and create a desirable place to live (17 apartments) over four storeys with great commercial spaces located along one of Sydney’s busiest streets thus providing a vision for future projects in the area to follow.

A vision relying on a deep understanding of context, history and stitching together rather than scale and “bling” to create the next evolution for Willoughby Road in Sydney’s inner-north.

AJH+ was commissioned to undertake architectural and interior design through all phases.

Addressing traffic, privacy, solar access and the heritage qualities of the precinct relied on contemporary reinterpretations of historical architectural ideas.

In the late 1800’s, Willoughby was a brickmaking hub with a variety of manufacturers being located in the area. The existing rich tapestry of crafted brick buildings, many of them heritage listed today, pay homage to this era.

The Bowery continues the rich history of considered, well-crafted brick buildings in

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The Bowery is a mixed-use infill project, four storeys in height with 17 dwellings, two commercial spaces and two basement levels, located in a heritage conservation area and steep site.

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A vision relying on a deep understanding of context, history and stitching together rather than scale and “bling”...

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The Bowery uses brick loggias, an external space to the side of a space with columns defining its perimeter...

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ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Balconies, outdoor rooms, commercial facades, lobbies, communal open spaces, the steepness of the site, separation of neighbouring uses and addresses to the street all interact with the loggia, vary it and adapt its simple gesture.

The varying apartments planned around access to their own “outdoor room” with all living and bedroom spaces located to benefit from the space providing flexibility for expansion, ventilation, external amenity for residents and adjusting with needs as time passes. This provides a well-received unique offering to the market On the upper levels where there is less privacy and sound concerns, a Bowral blue brick colonnade of finer proportions is introduced facilitating distant views, providing solar protection and articulating a tapering of the plan to address the corner gateway site.

Commercial and residential spaces have vastly different requirements. These requirements (functional/security/privacy etc) are often conflicting and opposed.

The commercial spaces, larger than existing examples, are brought forward to the street line and turn the corner. This provides opportunity for “filtration” through many street entries, maximising openings to engage with the street addressing the human scale and providing a balcony for the commercial space.

The apartments are set back as far as possible from the street using distance as the buffer from street. The main spaces (living/bedrooms) face this buffer providing a protected external outlook to the apartments.

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Talking Architecture & Design Launched in 2017 as part of the Architecture & Design publishing and news network, Talking Architecture & Design podcast interviews industry leaders, innovators, personalities and a range of industry movers and shakers. With no subject that is off-limits, we talk to those that not only make change happen, but also those that turn that change into industry norms and trends. In this issue we are featuring our Residential podcast series, proudly partnered by Stormtech.

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TA L K I N G A R C H I T E C T U R E & D E S I G N P O D C A S T

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Residential Series: Looking at the issues affecting the design and rebuild of our residential structures and all that is needed to design the most liveable and sustainable homes possible.

EPISODE 61: TROY CREIGHTON, MD OF STORMTECH, ON WHY LOWERING OUR WATER USAGE IS NOW MORE CRUCIAL THAN IT’S EVER BEEN The managing director of Stormtech, Troy Creighton, talks about Stormtech’s history – its humble beginnings and the interesting back-story of the NSW South Coast company’s stellar growth.

Troy also covers a number of other areas including his passion – manufacturing to proper standards in Australia as well as the current state of the industry, and how the continuing move towards higher levels of sustainability is set to change the future of his company and water usage in general across this wide, brown land. bit.ly/TAD_E061

EPISODE 52: KOICHI TAKADA TALKS ABOUT SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND HOW COVID-19 HAS FOREVER CHANGED HOW WE WORK, LIVE AND DESIGN OUR BUILDINGS Koichi Takada is a member of a new generation of architects that aim to ‘naturalise’ architecture in the urban environment – an approach he developed after living in cities of high urbanisation: Tokyo, New York, and London.

In this interview, Takada talks about his latest projects, why bringing the ‘outside-in’ is the new black, and how COVID-19 has altered human activity for good and what this means for architects and designers both here and abroad. bit.ly/TAD_E052

EPISODE 46: KRIS DAFF TALKS ABOUT WHY RENT-WITH-THE-OPTION-TO-BUY IS THE SMART WAY TO ADDRESS HOUSING ISSUES Builder and developer Kris Daff is the managing director of two progressive building firms – the first is Make Ventures, a Melbourne-based property development and investment group focusing on large scale urban renewal projects and the second is Assemble Communities, an end-to-end rent-with-the-option-to-buy developer and community manager responsible for the introduction of a new and exciting housing model gaining significant interest across the country.

He explains why the social, human and societal benefits of building housing for rentto-buy schemes far outweigh by a wide country mile any arguments over potential lower or for that matter, slower profits. bit.ly/TAD_E046

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EPISODE 48: How COVID-19 has changed the built industry, why moving to green buildings now makes sense and should building products be manufactured onshore

This episode we talk with founder and owner of design firm Archisoul Architects Jo Gillies about what is really important in these days of lockdowns, social isolation and social distancing and how we respond to these challenges will determine how we will get through them.

Gillies also talks about wellness and its intimate relationship to our mental and physical wellbeing in a time of stress and isolation and how individual wellness is critical to our eventual general recovery as a society.

In this episode of Talking Architecture & Design, architect and lecturer Tone Wheeler looks at where we went wrong with the design and build of our social housing stock. Wheeler discusses some novel ideas to get social housing back on track in Australia and what are some examples from overseas that we could emulate, as well as wondering whether a housing crash would be the best thing to invigorate the social housing sector? bit.ly/TAD_E055

EPISODE 35: Tone Wheeler on designers, ecology, education, Bali and how Australia became a hotbed of sustainable design EPISODE 38: Architect and lecturer Tone Wheeler dispels myths over the reasons for our bushfire crisis

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EPISODE 55: TONE WHEELER ON SOCIAL HOUSING AND DO WE NEED A HOUSING CRASH TO FIX ALL OUR SOCIAL HOUSING WOES?

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EPISODE 45: ARCHITECT JO GILLIES ON HOW SOCIAL ISOLATION WILL CHANGE WHO WE ARE AS PEOPLE AND AS WORKERS

TA L K I N G A R C H I T E C T U R E & D E S I G N P O D C A S T

EPISODE 52: Koichi Takada talks about sustainable design and how COVID-19 has forever changed how we work, live and design our buildings

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EPISODE 1: Talking with Robin Mellon, CEO of Australia’s Supply Chain Sustainability School

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bit.ly/TAD_E045 For more information on our podcasts, go to: podcast.architectureanddesign.com.au

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If you would like to be interviewed on Talking Architecture & Design, send an email to podcast@architectureanddesign.com.au

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Stormtech - A Regional Sustainability and Manufacturing Success Story Talking to Stormtech Managing Director Troy Creighton, you’d think he’d just stumbled across the secret formula to creating and growing a successful drainage business.

Technically, the business was started by his father, an accomplished concreter, who in 1989 identified a gap in the drainage market.

The idea – to make an effective drain that also looked great – was brilliant in its simplicity. “He came up with the slot drain, and that became our first product. Shortly after that, we were down the pub having a chat, and he wanted to come up with a name, so I thought, well, it’s storm water. And we’re applying a new technology to it. So we joined the words, called it Stormtech, and the name stuck.”

But over the last 30 odd years, Troy has, through a mixture of hard work, conviction – and a bit of necessity - evolved Stormtech to be not only the leading manufacturer of architectural drainage solutions in the country, but one of the most sustainable businesses in the Australian construction industry. “We weren’t really intending to be sustainable,”

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says Troy in his typically modest style. “But by the nature of our very business, we’re in a sustainable area dealing with water as a critical resource, and as a result we’ve build a culture of zero waste.”

“We’re audited by Ernst and Young for our green tag certification - our waste is less than 0.1%, and that’s basically cutting dust, which goes to landfill.” says Troy, “But everything else is reused and repurposed or reground and used to make new material.”

In fact, the journey of discovery in building a sustainable business has made Stormtech’s business more efficient. “I thought it was going to be a simple box ticking exercise to gain that recognition of our sustainable credentials. But when we actually went for true certification, the amount of knowledge that we had to have was far beyond what I had for my supply chain at the time. It’s about where we’re sourcing our sustainable power, how we’re handling product, waste, how far our trucks travel, what sort of trucks they are – it was a whole education in understanding my own business.”

And although he’s not coy about Stormtech’s position at the top of the sustainability pyramid, Troy welcomes more competition from the industry. “We’re the only sustainable drainage company in the world who has gone to the full effort, and I’d like to see someone else come in and compete with us on it. Businesses should see the it as an opportunity to really learn a bit about their business, and to understand what it is to be truly sustainable.”

Stormtech’s commitment to the manufacture of high-quality, locally manufactured products with zero (or almost zero) waste continues to resonate with the market, buoyed along by the company’s strong internal culture of sustainability. “We might have been sustainable by necessity originally, but it’s about the future of the world,” says Troy. “And if we can’t reduce, reuse and recycle then we’re heading to a landfill hell – and that’s not where we want to be.”

LISTEN TO PODCAST EPISODE 61 bit.ly/Stormtech_21Q1

20/1/21 1:57 pm

Grate entertainment with Stormtech.

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Pushing the sustainability envelope WORDS MATTHEW MCDONALD

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As the world moves tentatively towards a sustainable future, we have begun to hear about concepts like the ‘outer envelope’ of homes and the roles they can play in reducing our carbon footprints.

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LEFT Suitable for both single and multi-residential applications, Fletcher Insulation’s Sisalation Vapawrap range of vapour permeable construction fabrics represent the latest in moisture control and vapour permeable watertight membranes.

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ABOVE Insulation has evolved and moved on from just Pink Batts.

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In times past, home insulation tended to involve throwing some insulation into the ceiling and getting a pleasant surprise after discovering this year’s energy bills were lower than last year’s.

Times have changed and – as the Victorian Government has noted – we now understand that insulation can cut energy usage and its associated cost by 40 - 50 percent.

As such, we also understand that energy efficient, or even carbon neutral homes, have a major role in whether we meet the ambitious carbon reduction targets that most major economies (though perhaps not Australia) are setting for 2050 and beyond.

The good news is that the ever-increasing sophistication of products in this space means that such targets are far from unrealistic. These products aren’t limited to roof insulation. They also include everything from tapes used to make houses airtight and window design to effective cladding and roofing solutions. Here are some of the best examples available in Australia today.

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INSULATION PRODUCTS FOAMAX Styroboard XPS, an extruded polystyrene product made at the company’s Victorian facility, is recommended for use in four main types of residential applications. Used around a building’s shell, it can eliminate thermal bridges, help the slab retain warmth, and reduce heat lost through the foundations. Suitable for use in pervious, semi-pervious and impervious soils, it has excellent thermal insulation properties, is moisture resistant and rot-proof.

Secondly, Styroboard XPS is recommended for use as a standard floor sheet. Because of its high compressive strength, it is suitable for insulating a wide range of floors, especially those subjected to heavy loads. Able to absorb local peak loads and adjust to uneven surfaces under pressure, it is also dimensionally stable.

It will not attract vermin and is resistant to most ground contaminants.

Used as a roof spacer on commercial metal deck roofing applications, Styroboard XPS cuts thermal loss and allows insulation to recover to nominal thickness.

Finally, it can be used on green roofs as an insulation layer fitted over the waterproofing seal. In such applications, it effectively protects the membrane from temperature fluctuations.

KINGSPAN INSULATED PANELS Kingspan Insulated Panels Evolution (KS1000EVO) is a streamlined unprofiled insulated panel. It features an Ecosafe and Firesafe Polyisocyanurate (PIR) core which is not deleterious and has no ozone depletion potential.

Evolution can be laid horizontally or vertically and can be integrated with other Kingspan products to create a complete building envelope solution. Available in modules of 600mm, 900mm and 1000mm, in a variety of lengths, the system also features a hidden joint detail which conceals fasteners from view.

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Evolution is available in three variations.

The first, Evolution Axis is recommended for those looking to achieve a minimalist façade on buildings with large, flat surface areas. The second, Evolution Recess features depth and dimension through the folding of the panel edge and the insertion of a 10mm or 20mm gasket between the panels, which creates a 3D effect.

And the third variation, Evolution MultiGroove, is a premium flat panel with one, two or three grooves engineered into its surface.

CSR BRADFORD CSR Bradford offers a complete range of glasswool thermal insulation products for roofs, ceilings, walls, and floors, as well as Soundscreen acoustic insulation to help reduce sound transfer through the home.

Primarily made from recycled glass, glasswool is a sustainable and cost-effective insulation solution. Its manufacture involves the melting of glass in a furnace, which then proceeds to a spinner to create glasswool fibres.

These create millions of tiny air pockets which trap air. The air pockets make the material

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a poor conductor of heat, and therefore an effective insulation solution.

FLETCHER INSULATION Suitable for both single and multi-residential applications, Fletcher Insulation’s Sisalation Vapawrap range of vapour permeable construction fabrics represent the latest in moisture control and vapour permeable watertight membranes.

Designed to reduce the formation of condensation within buildings, these sophisticated products prevent the ingress of water and dust from the outside environment (both during and after construction), while at the same time, allowing moisture to pass in the opposite direction (inside to out).

Specifically designed for colder climates where vapour permeable membranes are required, there are two variations in the range.

‘Residential Wall Wrap’ is suitable for walls and gable applications in brick veneer and behind fibre cement cladding where manufacturers require use of vapour permeable membranes, while ‘Sisalation Vapawrap + Vapour Permeable

Metal Roof’ is intended for use in residential and commercial applications with metal roof spans of up to 900mm (unsupported), or up to 1,200mm (with support).

The products function in a different way to traditional breather foil membranes, which act as an impervious vapour barrier, with small holes to allow the transmission of air and water vapour. Significantly, these holes allow air and water penetration. This means, in most cases, such products are unsuitable for use behind lightweight cladding materials.

CLADDING & ROOFING PRODUCTS HVG HVG’s Zintl aluminium cladding system has an easy-to-use interlocking feature for fast, costeffective installation.

Certified to AS1530.1, Zintl provides specifiers with fire resistant external cladding profiles that are versatile and non-combustible. It is ideal for residential applications and is also often used in commercial, education, sporting, and health care projects.

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COLORSPAN INDUSTRIES Colorspan Industries has released Greencoat, a new material for innovative, colour coated steel roofing, façade, and rainwater systems.

Available in a range of colours and coatings; and containing Swedish rapeseed oil, the material is UV-resistant (up to RUV4), energy efficient, and scratch resistant.

Colorspan offers Greencoat in four contemporary profiles, including Standing Seam. Though recommended for both roofing

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and wall façade applications, this option is not limited to flat surface applications. Indeed, it can be easily fixed to curved, concave, convex, dome, or conical surfaces to create striking wave effects.

Similar in appearance to Standing Seam, the Snap Lock profile features panels that snap into each other to form locking joints.

Eliminating the need for crimping, this reduces installation time and therefore cuts costs. The Interlocking Panel profile, on the other hand, employs a ‘tongue and groove’ concept, which ensures a strong concealed interlocking joint between panels.

Lastly the Nail Strip profile, like the Standing Seam and Snap Lock options, features a wide recessed pan with a raised seam of either 25mm or 38mm.

The overall effect of a structure covered by this cladding is a series of continuous flowing thick bands neatly framed by thin ribs.

The profile is a real option for those seeking a dynamic visual impact, which these days means pretty much anyone and everyone designing any type of building or structure.

ABOVE Evolution can be laid horizontally or vertically and can be integrated with other Kingspan products to create a

JAN-MAR 2021

ZINTL is available in a wide range of Interpon and Dulux powder coated finishes as well as a selection of anodised and wood grain cladding architectural finishes. With its mix of natural, bold, and subtle hues, the product is suitable for any budget or environment. On top of that, its durability makes it particularly suited to use on coastal properties and in high traffic areas.

Zintl is available in HVG’s ezy HD² wood effect option, which is the only coating of its type available in Australia that offers a 15-year colour and 25-year film integrity warranty for both the base coat and the grain coat.

complete building envelope solution.

Available in modules of 600mm, 900mm and 1000mm, in a variety of lengths, the system also features a hidden joint detail which conceals fasteners from view.

OPPOSITE Suitable for both single and multi-residential applications, Fletcher Insulation’s Sisalation Vapawrap range of vapour permeable construction fabrics represent the latest in moisture control, vapour permeable watertight membranes.

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SUPPLIERS Fletcher Insulation architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/fletcherinsulation HVG architectureanddesign.com. au/suppliers/hvg-faรงades Kingspan Insulated Panels architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/ kingspan-insulated-panels Colorspan colorspan. com.au/ Foamex architectureanddesign. com.au/suppliers/foamex-group Bondor architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/bondor Bradford Insulation architectureanddesign.com. au/suppliers/bradford-insulation LEFT Kingspan Insulated Panels Evolution (KS1000EVO) is a streamlined unprofiled

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BONDOR Luxewall is a designer-friendly and costeffective exterior wall cladding solution for residential applications. Lightweight and featuring a prefinished exterior coating, the range is available in the latest Colorbond matt and metallic finishes combined with a Unismart aluminium trim finishing system.

Luxewall is designed and engineered for increased speed of construction. Its unique concealed fixed system, which involves fixing wall modules to traditional timber or metal stud wall framing, is a time-saving alternative to other labour-intensive masonry systems.

Creating an effective thermal barrier, it delivers excellent climate control and comfort to the home. It is Codemark certified, conforms to all relevant NCC requirements and Australian Standards, and is available in in BAL40, BALFZ and Boundary Wall Options.

Luxewall represents the next generation in lightweight designer cladding for modern residential exteriors; a smarter, all-in-one, installer friendly walling solution.

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ABOVE The Elvire Collection pairs stylish thin edged enamelled steel with beautiful timber accents.

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The bathroom as a living space ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

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Collection taps into this growing trend. Elvire is a full suite of bathroomware products that brings elements of nature into bathroom design.

“Showcasing a beautiful selection of locally grown and sustainably sourced Tasmanian timbers, the collection is a lovingly crafted celebration of Australia’s natural environment,” Di Michiel says.

The Elvire Collection pairs stylish thin edged enamelled steel with beautiful timber accents finished with a satin seal with no staining to accentuate the natural beauty. The complete collection includes basins, vanities, showers, tapware and a luxurious freestanding bath.

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According to Caroma Industrial Designer Luke Di Michiel, people want beautiful bathrooms that can form a harmonious relationship with other interior spaces in their home.

“Once perceived as a place dedicated to hygiene, the modern bathroom has evolved to cater more holistically to a sense of wellbeing and personal expression,” he says.

The use of timber in bathrooms is one way to help achieve this by giving the bathroom a more natural and homely feel.

Luke explains that incorporating timber into the design shifted the clinical feel often associated with bathrooms. Caroma’s new Elvire

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Residential bathrooms are evolving into more than just rooms purely dedicated to getting clean.

Customers are wanting bathrooms that act as more of a living space, a sanctuary within their home where they can go to relax and unwind.

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Once perceived as a place dedicated to hygiene, the modern bathroom has evolved to cater more holistically to a sense of wellbeing and personal expression.

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Homeowner Glenda Green recently had the Elvire Collection installed into her luxury Wahroonga home in Sydney as part of a larger major renovation. She chose to have the Elvire Collection across all five of her bathrooms, commenting that she was drawn to the collection specifically for its beautiful integration of Tasmanian timbers.

“The collection seamlessly integrates with the house’s high vaulted timber ceilings and dedicated outdoor spaces that again celebrate the stunning established gardens and extensive Australian native trees,” Di Michiel says.

Composite material manufacturing company Liner Supply has also noticed a paradigm shift emerging in residential bathroom design.

“People’s perceptions and experiences of their bathrooms have become of increasing importance and value,” says Debra Hofman, sales manager for Liner Supply’s Jackoboard product range. “They have changed the way they view this space, seeing it now as more of a living space,” she says.

“Bathrooms are viewed as a space purposed for calmness and wellbeing, where they can relax and rejuvenate the mind and body, with the use and visual appeal of organic and smoother surfaces conducive to creating a soothing environment”.

With this shift comes the demand for more open plan bathrooms, frameless shower screens, panels and shower trays without hobs, small feature walls and built-in niches for both functionality and aesthetics.

Hofman believes Liner Supply’s Jackoboard range is the perfect solution to meet this challenge. Jackoboard is a new alternative to plasterboard but unlike plasterboard, plywood and other wood type boards it is water repellent.

“This means any water penetration from the finished surface will not penetrate through to the structural elements of the building,” she explains.

The construction boards have a robust core made of extruded polystyrene foam and are

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covered with a smooth non-woven coating on both sides. They’re easily shaped and trimmed to desired dimensions and are compatible with virtually any type of wall finishing. This means they easily allow for attractive combinations of different materials on a single board such as wallpaper, paint, plaster, and tiles.

Within the range there are Jackoboard Plano and Flexo boards which both provide leak proof solutions for the bathroom and other wet areas such as laundries.

“Because they are so simple and easy to work with, they are particularly suited to customised solutions for interior furnishings,” Hofman says.

“Jackoboard’s Plano and Flexo can be used to cover, seal and provide thermal insulation for the bathroom as well as other wet area walls and floors.They can be used to create shower enclosures, install washstands, other furnishings such as shower seats, as well as creating that feature wall and niche shelving for functionality and aesthetic appeal,” she says.

Jackoboard Aqua and Aqua Flat, on the other hand, have been purposely designed for tileover shower trays.

“This means that the trades professional can very easily install a leak proof solution to meet their customer’s need, and because it is so simple to install, save plenty of time in the process saving both them and their customer time and money,” she says.

The availability of the product in both standard and custom shapes and sizes makes it a convenient way to ensure functionality and visual appeal for those customers after a more designer looking bathroom.

“And thanks to the lightweight properties they don’t require heavy machinery and complex tools to install, yielding a quicker turnaround time without sacrificing the quality of your project”.

UK-based tile and bathroom fitter Darryl Howarth was one of the first in the UK to start fitting extruded polystyrene tileable shower cases for wet rooms and walk-in showers.

“The time and energy saved compared to traditional methods transformed the whole approach to wet rooms, especially on suspended timber floors,” he says.

In a recent family bathroom refurbishment in Greater Manchester, England, Howarth installed a Jackoboard Aqua Flat 20mm thick shower base and Jackoboard construction boards on the walls and floors. He commented that it is a great surface to tile on, helping him to achieve elegant results for his clients.

Another bathroom and wetroom trend emerging is bringing the outdoor experience and nature inside.

“This can translate into having plants and other organic elements such as timber in the bathroom, in particular in urban multiresidential environments,” Stormtech’s managing director Troy Creighton says.

“In residential single dwellings this can be translated into opening the bathroom onto an internal landscaped courtyard,” he said.

To achieve this seamless look, Stormtech’s range of threshold drains can be used to create a zero threshold for seamless indoor to outdoor integration.

This style of drainage is available for sliding and hinged doors and bi-folds with a variety of grate designs. The low-profile design features a linear stainless steel drainage system with a concealed channel section for door tracks and thresholds. The external linear grate sits flush beside the door track, in precise alignment with the ground surface.

By integrating drains into the door-track, threshold drains allow for an unbroken path between internal and external surfaces, dissolving the traditional barriers between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Additionally, this allows for universal access and mobility. This is a great benefit when designing bathrooms for those in wheelchairs, those needing mobility assistance or those who are vision impaired.

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GERMGARD ® PROTECTIVE SEAL The specially designed seals on Caroma Care Support grab rails incorporate GermGard® protection: • Integrated antimicrobial formula into the rubber seal • Kills 99.9% of bacteria • Helps prevent the spread of nasty germs • Makes cleaning easier

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SUPPLIERS Caroma architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/caroma Liner Supply linersupply.com.au/bathroom-construction-boards/ Stormtech architectureanddesign.com.

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au/suppliers/stormtech Danmac architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/danmac Everhard Industries architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/everhard-industries

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The look of ‘traditional’ spaces and colours are now becoming less prominent as rustic and industrial styles rise in popularity like utility sinks and matte colours.

“An integrated, concealed subsill collects water flows and condensation around the doorway, conveying it to the external drainage system,” Creighton explains.

“All our products are available in a variety of colours, including electroplating over stainless steel as a decorative finish,” he says.

Stormtech drainage systems remove water along their length, which allows for narrower profiles to have greater intake of water than traditional drains.

Stormtech’s zero threshold drains were used for the award-winning Guerilla Bay house by Peter Stutchbury Architecture on the South Coast of NSW. The home was to be built on a beautiful open woodland block so Stutchbury deliberately kept the building small.

He also placed it in such a way that it engaged with the primary aspect of the site, a stunning view across the bay to the rocks that Guerilla Bay is well known for. The build incorporated the rocks from the site which have deep Aboriginal meaning.

“I wanted to connect with those; the story of the rocks is now a part of the house,” he said.

When it came to seamlessly connecting this outside beauty, including the rocks, into the property’s unique open plan bathroom spaces, Stormtech’s zero threshold drains were the perfect choice.

“In terms of providing answers to the problem of drainage in any situation, be this external or internal we always specify Stormtech, except in situations where for

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whatever reason that’s inappropriate – but that’s very rare,” Stutchbury says.

Aluminium distributor Danmac has also seen a rise in the clean line, open plan trend and commented that “less is more” right now when it comes to bathroom design. This comes in the form of stepless tiled floors with threshold-free sills on shower screens to give that continued seamless look.

This look can be achieved through the company’s Ultimate Sill-less Pivot Clamp Shower System.

The innovative glass clamp system doesn’t require any glass cut outs. There is only a single hole at the top and bottom of the door glass and the pivot pin is incorporated in the clamp itself.

The pivot clamp is manufactured from forged brass, stainless steel screws and chrome plated, making it more durable with less parts. It’s designed to suit 6mm glass and is available in sill-less or with sill. The result is a minimalist sleek design shower.

Minimised and decluttered areas, simple lines and increased functionality are trends that spill over into the home’s other major wetroom, the laundry.

According to Everhard Industries, consumers are looking for solutions for smaller areas that don’t compromise on storage, and thus many turn to custom cabinetry as the solution due to minimal market products.

“The look of ‘traditional’ spaces and colours are now becoming less prominent as rustic and industrial styles rise in popularity like utility

sinks and matte colours,” Everhard Industries’ Brand & Communications manager Mel Smith says. “Homeowners, spending more money than ever before on areas such as the laundry to create a more appealing space”.

For these reasons Everhard Industries’ Nugleam and Excellence laundry drawer system units have become increasingly popular. Both are available in 35L and 45L options, the units address the functionality requirements of small spaces and introduce a modern design into the once forgotten space.

These unit systems are a unique offering in a rather saturated market and cater to a large range of customers with the Nugleam laundry being a subtle redesign of the traditional white laundry unit and the Excellence Matte Black suitable for those wanting to branch out from the normal.

“By introducing these products, we are bridging the gap between the traditional budget laundry unit and custom cabinetry – creating a cost effective solution for the homeowner that doesn’t compromise on design aesthetics and allows them to maintain the functionality that comes with having cabinets.”

Ultimately, today’s consumers are wanting their bathrooms and laundries to be no-fuss and streamlined but without making them look clinical or boring. This means using intelligently designed products like Jackoboards, threshold drains, sill-less shower screens and smart storage systems paired with warm timber accents and biophilic design.

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P R O M O T I O N F E AT U R E

Caroma’s Unique Independent Living Solution at Golden Grove

CAROMA.COM.AU / A&D X Caroma /

Challenge For Victoria Sands, a member of the Walter Brooke Architectural team, a key challenge for Golden Grove was marrying style and safety.

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“There’s certainly a balance of functionality and care methods”, explains Sands. “We have to consider infection control, accessibility and risk mitigation, while remembering that we’re creating a home that must look and feel welcoming and stylish”.

Nick Larby, Manager of Property Services for Helping Hand, agrees: “It’s crucial to use the highest standard products in aged care.

We need to ensure that products, particularly in bathrooms – which can carry greater fall risks – consider safety without compromising on aesthetics”.

Solution Having worked closely with Helping Hand on previous projects, Caroma were the first choice to supply bathroom products throughout Golden Grove’s 110 residential rooms: but with an innovative twist! Further to a brainstorming session, Larby raised the idea of incorporating the removable drop-down armrests and nurse call button to Caroma’s Care 800 accessible toilet suite. What followed was a collaboration between Caroma and aged care solution-provider, Customtel,

resulting in all 110 resident toilets across the facility being successfully modified to feature the armrests and in-built call button.

Complemented by Caroma’s Opal 920 and Opal 720 shelf basins, Golden Grove residents now benefit from bathrooms that meet the highest standards in aged care safety and accessibility, while keeping the clean lines and modern finishes for which Caroma is recognised.

For Larby, working with Caroma brings an unmatched level of confidence to Helping Hand projects. “We know that Caroma is the market leader but, beyond that, they know exactly what we need. When we liaise with Caroma about new projects, they make suggestions about additional or new features without us even having to ask. The fact that they’re constantly investing in innovation means that when we make suggestions about how products can be modified, they’re as excited about it as we are. That’s why they’re so attuned to the needs of the aged care sector”.

DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY bit.ly/Caroma_21Q1

JAN-MAR 2021

Background Australians have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, with the current estimate sitting at 83.5 years. While a long life is certainly something worth celebrating, living independently and in comfort in later life is what most of us hope for.

With more than 7,000 older Australians living in South Australia, Helping Hand – a nonprofit organisation providing residential living – recently embarked on its latest project, the Golden Grove Aged Care development. Located just 20km from Adelaide’s CBD, the three-storey Golden Grove Residential care home would provide locals with the highest level of care and a uniquely independent lifestyle. Boasting a prime location opposite The Grove Shopping Centre, residents could expect beautiful, lightfilled rooms, as well as an enviable range of services, including an indoor/alfresco café, hair salon, health services and bar.

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Designing for the sunburnt country Australia records some of the longest sunshine hours in the world, paired with some of the world’s harshest UV rays. This brings some unique design challenges (and possibilities) to Australian residential architecture, which has historically struggled to fully capture the benefits of the local climate.

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ABOVE Innowood’s screen systems provide a softened timber look to internal and external wall surfaces and soffits, which not only greatly enhances their appearance, but also protects the building and its occupants from harsh sunlight.

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ABOVE Louvretec’s Retractable Opening Roof, for example, is a good solution for architects looking to specify operable overhead cover for outdoor areas.

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Different facades require different external shading solutions based on the facade’s orientation towards the sun.

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As mentioned, louvres are a great option to increase a home’s energy efficiency. They also make a stylish addition to residential architecture and give occupants the flexibility to enjoy the weather or take cover when needed.

There are a number of ways to use louvres, but one popular option is the use of motorised louvres in roofing solutions such as pergolas.

Louvretec’s Retractable Opening Roof, for example, is a good solution for architects looking to specify operable overhead cover for outdoor areas. According to Louvretec, this style of opening roof allows you to automatically retract the louvre blades back; either from the middle stacking evenly to each side, or all louvres retracted to one end.

The Retractable Opening Roof can be a good solution to help occupants reduce their

If you’re looking to achieve sun protection while adding architectural flair to a structure, attaching louvres to a building’s facade can be a great option. Louvreclad, for example, provides louvre solutions that are a mixture of proprietary components and custom-designed fixing systems to suit the project at hand. This is because different facades require different external shading solutions based on the facade’s orientation towards the sun.

According to Louvreclad, their systems can be designed to be fully responsive to external conditions, maximise airflow, provide added weather protection, reduce noise and even offer security through bullet-proof resistance.

A good example of this product’s application is in Gallery House, a Queensland residential building designed by Cottee Parker Architects.

The structure, which includes a combination of riverfront residences and retail destinations, was designed to interpret and reflect the calm yet dynamic nature of the Brisbane River, while also responding to the dynamic mountain ranges beyond.

Louvreclad worked closely with the architects to design and detail a custom Caprice Series vertical sun blade solution which included a new 110mm chamfer end cap designed and cut specifically for the project. Broken into 3m sections and fixed to the structure with a custom fabricated end plate/spigot connection, the 577mm deep chamfer blades run vertically up west and east elevations to provide the necessary sun protection. This bespoke connection detail allows for thermal expansion and slab deflection, while still providing the required 45-degree tilt of the blade and fitting discretely behind the sun blade to maintain the continuous louvre aesthetic.

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LOUVRES

overall energy consumption, says Louvretec, as it provides ventilation and allows the user to control the amount of daylight and glare, reducing the need for air conditioning. It also allows for winter sun (passive solar heat gain), which can reduce heating costs. Plus, being made of aluminium makes it a durable (yet recyclable) option.

One stunning example of this product in use is in a luxury residential project at Orewa Beach on New Zealand’s North Island.

Louvretec’s Retractable Opening Roof was specified on the penthouse apartments of this opulent building, which boasts beautiful beach views. Hopper Developments chose to specify the roofs for the penthouses to maximise light and sun control and to create a functional outdoor living space.

Windows are another key opportunity to maximise energy efficiency in a residential build. Getting into the more technical side of things, Norman’s PerfectTilt G4 motorised shutters have some interesting features.

According to Norman, all of the company’s shutter products have an inbuilt InvisibleTilt mechanism, which operates the louvres with no need for an external connecting rod and allows all mechanical components to be hidden inside the shutter stile.

The G4 motorisation system also features built-in jam protection for children and pets, is water resistant and has over 30 custom louvre positions available. Perhaps one of its most compelling features is that each shutter contains a solar panel to extend battery life, which according to Norman can sometimes last for years on a single charge when installed in a sunny location.

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Victorian styles in particular are not known for their energy efficiency, tending to be cold and dark in winter and overly hot in summer. In contrast, Queenslander architecture pays tribute to its surrounds and tends to be a good base to work from when designing a modern energyefficient home.

In particular, the trend of adapting traditional Queenslander homes to include contemporary features such as motorised louvres and outdoor screens is a great way to combine sustainable design with classic Australian architecture. Some charming examples include Keith Street House by Fouche Architects and Bowler House by DAH Architects, as well as bureau^proberts’ Queenslander-inspired apartment building.

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SCREENS

ABOVE Innowood’s screen systems are also low maintenance, water and termite resistant, and are available in a variety of colours and finishes.

SUPPLIERS Louvretec Australia architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/louvretec-australia Verosol Australia architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/verosol-australia Norman Australia normanaustralia.com.au/ Louvreclad 68

architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/louvreclad Innowood architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/innowood

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Screens can be a more subtle yet still effective option for improving energy efficiency in a home.

One interesting option is Verosol’s SilverScreen solar control fabrics, which can be used on window coverings to regulate heat and light in buildings. According to Verosol, this product uses a technique called metallisation, which involves vaporising aluminium to allow it to bond and infuse into the fabric.

Used in a range of the company’s blinds and window coverings, SilverScreen reflects up to 85 percent of solar radiation and virtually eliminates UV radiation. This means there is no fading and damage to interior furnishings, and glare is significantly reduced – all while leaving views to the outside world unaffected.

According to Verosol, blinds incorporating SilverScreen are proven to reduce energy consumption (and in turn, costs). In airconditioned buildings they can cut costs by 20 percent, while in buildings without airconditioning they cut costs by approximately 10 percent, which equates to significant reductions in CO2 emissions and good energy cost savings.

Finally, for architects and specifiers looking for an alternative to conventional facade design, Innowood’s screen systems could be a good option. They provide a softened timber look to internal and external wall surfaces and soffits, which not only greatly enhances their appearance, but also protects the building and its occupants from harsh sunlight. The screen systems are also low maintenance, water and termite resistant, and are available in a variety of colours and finishes. It is also worth noting that they utilise composite timber recycling technology, preventing global forest depletion by eliminating the need for chopping down new timber.

One good example of their use is in The Pavilions, a set of 14 townhouses in the coastal Sydney suburb of Freshwater, designed by Nettleton Tribe. The idea behind the design was to combine a natural timber look and feel with a contemporary design that is functional and highlights the clean lines of the build’s natural sustainable finishes. The builder, Reform, specified Innowood’s bi-fold screening system for all 14 townhouses, with project manager Alex Swiney noting that “It provides a real look and feel whilst having a durable UV and weather resistance”.

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ARCHITECTUREANDDESIGN.COM.AU Combining the best in new projects, industry news and expert commentary with the country’s most comprehensive archive of new products, suppliers and their educational resources.

Go online today and discover what’s new.

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15/10/20 11:18 am

Some like it hot: The ins and outs of modern kitchens

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Kitchens aren’t what they used to be and thank goodness for that.

According to well-known style writer Anne Reagan, “Historically, kitchens weren’t luxurious and unlike today’s kitchen, they were not rooms where people wanted to spend time in. They definitely weren’t rooms meant for hosting guests or entertaining.”

“They were dark and prone to catching fire; they were filled with noises, messes and smells.

They were extremely busy spaces and could be hot and uncomfortable. For these reasons, kitchens tended to be situated as far away as possible from the social or private rooms in a home.”

“Even the lower classes placed the kitchen away from the centre of the home by moving them to the back of the house, next to the outdoor work areas,” says Reagan, Architect Ana Lopes Ramos points out that, “Economic trends and politics had a major influence on the design and function of the kitchen. Technological advancements were constant, most of which aimed to reduce labour and time. In the 18th Century, the stoves were fuelled by wood,” says Lopes Ramos.

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Over time, the kitchen took on a life of its own, with the post-World War II era being a pivotal time in the development of the design of the modern kitchen as we know it today.

“The housing boom and manufacturing advancements of post-World War II made a huge impact on the ‘modern’ kitchen.

There was an increased demand for kitchen technology and equipment that inspired homeowners to tear down the walls that once hid their utilitarian kitchens. The kitchen was becoming quieter, cleaner, better organised and easier to work in; a source of pride, and slowly a place worthy of entertaining guests,” says Lopes Ramos.

“In the 1960’s and 1970’s other social changes were taking place that improved the style of the kitchen. A renewed interest in home cooking, fetishising kitchen utensils and entertaining meant that the kitchen became a source for improving culinary skills, displaying designer cookware and becoming the heart for social activity. By the 1980’s, the idea of a completely open kitchen, with

appliances designed to show off, came into being,” she notes.

And how much have things changed. With on onset of the 21st century, alfresco became ‘a thing’, while technology and innovative materials became de rigueur.

Now, in 2021, the kitchen has well and truly traversed both the inside and outside space of a house and is no longer ‘just’ a place to cook and eat, but rather, a place to enjoy life as well as to experience all that the modern culinary and design worlds have to offer.

According to recent figures, the latest lending data shows the average Australian renovator tackling a project amid the coronavirus crisis spent 23 percent more on their project than people who renovated before the pandemic began. Victorians were the biggest spenders, with the average renovation costing $71,067, followed by NSW renovators spending $66,609 on average.

And thanks to a raft of cash incentives from the federal government, kitchens have featured prominently in these upgrades.

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The kitchen has well and truly traversed both the inside and outside space of a house and is no longer ‘just’ a place to cook and eat...

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TECHNOLOGY COOKS UP A STORM A spokesperson for appliance maker Fisher & Paykel says its Touchscreen Oven helps cooks of all skill levels intuitively produce perfect results in the kitchen with guided cooking technologies.”

This technology has been designed to remove the guesswork for the home chef so they can focus on “creating exceptional cuisine.”

“You can now cook by key ingredient, method or recipe – either following prompts to the letter or branching out to create a dish with your own signature twist,” the spokesperson notes.

Supported by technology, heat is circulated evenly and precisely throughout the generously sized cavity, ensuring a consistent temperature at every stage of cooking.

It has 17 oven functions and pyrolytic selfcleaning technologies that break down food residue for an easy clean, the company says.

For a heritage feel with contemporary performance, Fisher & Paykel point to its Freestanding Cooker, with its spacious gas cooktop and generously sized convection oven it offers the availability to cook several dishes at the same time.

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Built with Fisher & Paykel’s AeroTech system, it circulates air evenly throughout the entire oven so dishes on the top shelf turn out just as perfect as food cooking on the bottom shelf. Safety features include quadruple-glazed CoolTouch door and fully extending sliding shelves, the company says.

SCRATCHING JUST BELOW THE STONE SURFACES Caesarstone’s Outdoor Collection engineered stone surface technology works for a broad range of applications, from internal kitchens and bathrooms to external poolside bars and alfresco kitchens, in other words, opening up a well of inspiration for seamless design inside and out.

According to general manager of marketing, Grant Vandenberg, “Until now, there hasn’t been an outdoor surface material as durable as Caesarstone. With our new outdoor range, people can have complete peace of mind for a long-lasting application in their alfresco designs.”

“Caesarstone Outdoor Collection surfaces maintain exceptional mechanical and physical properties after long-term exposure to the sun

and seasonal weather changes; outperforming other common outdoor surfaces, including granite, ceramic, concrete and stainless steel in standardised testing,” he says.

But it’s not just about the aesthetics or longevity of use, there is the issue of user safety as well.

As Michell Bridger-Darling from CASF, the manufacturer of the Corian range of surface technology notes, “Corian solid surfaces have low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) content and have proven to be extremely safe as surfacing materials for over 50 years, with minimal impact on indoor air quality.”

“In addition” she says, “these non-porous surfaces do not promote the growth of mould and mildew when properly cleaned, making them ideal choices for healthcare and food preparation facilities, schools, offices and homes for use in countertops, wall cladding, sinks and a wide variety of other applications.”

ACHIEVING MORE FROM YOUR KITCHEN FURNITURE Rachael Davis from kitchen furniture maker Blum, says that “Modern technology and

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ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN / p ra c ti c al /

LET’S GO OUTSIDE FOR A BBQ Christie Barbecues is the manufacturer the original Australian gas and electric public barbecue.

Joe Moore from Christie says that their outdoor cooking products are “…engineered for ease of use, energy efficiency, and to withstand harsh outdoor environments and heavy use

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that can defeat domestic and commercial alternatives.”

“Since 1965,” says Moore, “they have evolved into self-contained commercial cooking appliances that can be ordered with our pre-fabricated cabinets or built into any outdoor kitchen project. The heavy-duty stainless-steel grill plate offers a versatile and durable cooking surface that meets diverse cultural and dietary needs.”

“We focus exclusively on providing the safest, most reliable, most energy-efficient products on the market while providing the ultimate cooking experience. Pre-set temperature and cooking times allow users to simply push a button, wait for the sterilisation cycle, cook and leave,” he says.

Moore also notes that sustainability is a core value at Christie Barbecues and entails more than just recycling and lower their power consumption.

“We consider our products carbon footprint throughout their design life. We are a third-generation family-owned business, and manufacture our products in Australia, with local partners and locally sourced materials.

Our factory is 100 percent powered by

solar electricity; we use only recyclable packaging, and we manufacture our barbecues from recyclable stainless steel and aluminium,” he says.

JAN-MAR 2021

quality hardware from Blum gives designers the capability of creating beautiful aesthetics and functionality within their designs.”

“Because of this,” she says, “…Space Step gives designers the opportunity to stand out from the rest. The Space Step can be paired with Blum’s Legrabox, Tandembox, and Movento box systems.”

“Space Step can be easily implemented with Blum’s motion technologies such as Tip-On Blumotion. For designers who want their clients to experience supreme user convenience,” says Davis, adding that, “Space Step can also be combined with the Servo-Drive electrical opening support system. With a light touch of the front, the pull-out glides open and then closes silently and effortlessly with soft-close Blumotion.”

REMOVING ALL THE BAD AIR WHEREVER IT MAY BE Condor Rangehoods are designed and manufactured in Australia to compliment all alfresco and outdoor areas. The latest design in outdoor entertaining can now become truly viable with the addition of a Condor Rangehood. The Condor Rangehood will remove all by-products of outdoor cooking – smoke, grease and odours.

“Many barbecues installed in alfresco areas can be quite elaborate and exotic. They can include different cooking appliances, such as side burners, wok burners and rotisserie spikes, and are available in natural and LP gas.

Significantly, they can generate an enormous amount of smoke and odours,” says John Keating from Condor distributor Condari.

“Alfresco areas are becoming more popular and barbecues are becoming more elaborate and complex putting out more heat.

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Get the correct fit out f Rangehood

DIAGRAM 1

Ceiling

1200mm minimum

660mm

180mm

600mm

230mm

When cooking fatty foods, an alfresco area can fill with smoke within 10-15 minutes.

The diagram above shows a barbecue with the hood open at 90 degrees to the cooking surface and the smoke rises vertically. The rangehood can be placed over the top of the cooking surface. Some manufacturers recommend that you cook with the lid closed and the rangehood can be placed above the barbecue.

The diagram shows the relationship of the barbecue to the rangehood.

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t for your alfresco area.

DIAGRAM 2

Rangehood

Ceiling

This angle varies with different barbecues 30O-40O

500mm

316mm

170mm

30mm

510mm 80mm

The diagram above shows the barbecue lid is pivoted in the centre of the base and therefore covers the back half of the cooking surface. There are many models on the market that are like this and the smoke comes out from the cooking surface at about 60 degrees to the horizontal.

The rangehood needs to be in front of the barbecue so it will catch all the by products of the cooking. The position will be determined by the height of the ceiling.

This diagram explains the problem and the solution to this.

Talk to us today about the best solution.

1300 360 563 sales@qasair.com.au www.qasair.com.au

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Made in Australia

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The problem with ventilation is when the heat output of the barbecue is over 65 megajoules (MJ) or each burner is 15 MJ or greater. Correct ventilation allows full use of all the facilities in the Alfresco areas,” he points out.

Keating says that “The barbecues available in today’s market place can produce an output of up to 130 MJ. The air movement of the exhaust system must be greater than the updraft caused by the burners of the barbecue.”

“The Condor Rangehood achieves this via three forward curved centrifugal fan motors with a maximum air movement of 2700 cubic metres of air per hour. This is matched by an incomparable degree of quietness, which is achieved by fully insulating the rangehood with sound-deadening material,” he says.

Over at Australian-owned Schweigen, the challenge in rangehood design has been to generate as much consistent extraction power, as quietly and efficiently as possible. This is especially relevant in modern homes that are increasingly being designed for energy efficiency.

To achieve this, Schweigen’s Jerry Yap says the company started by sourcing the quietest and most powerful domestic extraction fan available, and integrated the German-made, centrifugal fan technology into a Schweigen-designed and patented motor system called the Isodrive.

“The Isodrive is installed outside of the home, on the roof, wall or eave and connected to the rangehood with acoustically-matched, rightsized flexible ducting. Air extraction is done in one seamless energy-efficient pull from outside the home - unlike traditional internally-motored rangehoods that need to work twice as hard to first pull air into the canopy and then push it through ducting to the outdoors, introducing air turbulence and noise as it does so,” he says.

According to Yap, it is “available in a range of motor options to suit your needs, Isodrive motor systems require just 57W of power to run and can offer energy savings of more than 300 percent.”

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ABOVE Billi’s Eco and Quadra ranges are Global Greentag certified.

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Dr D’Arcy says as more people settle into working from home long term, the need increases for cooking areas to be more separate and discreet.

“We now find that you can’t actually have a meeting when someone is trying to prepare a meal, for example,” he says. “We might need to start putting the walls back up.”

When asked whether the kitchen is here to stay for the long term, Dr D’Arcy says perhaps the concept of what a room is – with a defined and static purpose – is something we shouldn’t become too attached to.

“Over time, the way that we have defined rooms and the number of rooms we need and what the function of those rooms are has changed,” he says. “It’s something specific to cultures, and it’s something specific times, and those things will always change.”

According to Global Kitchen: The Home Kitchen in the Era of Globalisation, the kitchen of the future will be a multi-functional, smart-connected and health and wellnessfocused space.

Speaking to Houzz, Vanessa Feo Kutsch, head of international communications for the Cosentino Group, noted that, “The report compiled the main design and usage trends for the kitchen of the future.”

“The results concluded the kitchen will be a space for leisure, work, health and relaxation, and with smart appliances and connectivity, and incorporating techniques and devices normally found in professional kitchens,” she says.

And appliance company Smeg goes even further. “Kitchen design will continue to reflect the cooking and entertaining needs of homeowners as well as aesthetic style, be it urban or contemporary.”

“While monochromatic colourways remain on trend in the modern kitchen, contemporary designs with mid century aesthetics will be a way to explore colour and texture… while luxury appliances such as blast chillers, vacuum drawers and wine cellars are guaranteed to reimagine the heart and soul of the home.” says Jim Kalotheos, managing director, Smeg Australia.

WATER-WISE MEANS ENERGY-WISE Natalie Whelan from Billi Australia notes that when it comes to supplying water to your kitchen - whether inside or out – not all water delivery systems have been created equal.

“Our Eco and Quadra ranges are Global Greentag certified. This is one of the world’s most robust, trusted and widely recognised ecolabels.

It ensures every product is fitness tested and certified under leading certification programs.”

“Our products also include energy saving features such as eco intelligence (self-learning timer), standby mode and Heat Exchange technology which captures waste heat energy from chilling water to preheat the boiling water.”

“We also have a range of dispenser designs which come in a wide range of finishes to suit modern kitchen design,” says Whelan.

JAN-MAR 2021

The home kitchen looked like it was on its way out. First, the walls came down, turning the separated family kitchen into an openplan living space. Next, full gas stovetops, ovens and fridges were snubbed for the more economical kitchenette. Then IKEA predicted home kitchens would vanish altogether within a decade.

“When we look at the pressures from developers and [lifestyle] changes, these things point towards our home spaces getting smaller,” says Dr Sing D’Arcy from UNSW Built Environment.

But the interior architect is not so sure about a kitchen-less future. He believes the pandemic has led to a resurgence of the kitchen and the need for us to reconsider the importance of domestic cooking spaces.

“With COVID-19 and lockdowns ... it has completely changed things,” he says. “All of a sudden we’re in a situation where a basic necessity such as preparing food can really only be accommodated in the home.”

The decline of the in-home kitchen can be attributed in part to the rise of app-based food delivery services. At the same time as Uber Eats and Deliveroo take food preparation away from home, space is increasingly becoming a premium in our cities.

“There has been a trend towards outsourcing our living needs and our spatial needs to other providers, like takeaway, libraries, gyms etc. and developers are pretty clued into that,” Dr D’Arcy says.

“Now what we see in places like inner-city Melbourne, where there isn’t a minimum size apartment, is a lot of tiny apartments, in some cases without light, nestled in the middle of the city.”

Dr D’Arcy also believes the resurgence of activities like home baking during the pandemic has given renewed value to the kitchen as an in-home space.

“These activities that people are doing during lockdown like baking, you can’t do if you don’t have the room,” he says. “Maybe we do want – and need – a discreet and separate kitchen, for our sanity and our mental health.”

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Fisher & Paykel’s Quad Door Fridge Freezer has been designed to offer storage flexibility, LED lighting and a contemporary design. It features three large, independent compartments to provide ample storage space, as well as Variable Temperature Zone (VTZ), which allows similar food types to be placed into separate zones where temperature can be adjusted to suit produce at the press of a button, according to a company brochure.

Fisher & Paykel says its Integrated Columns Refrigeration, Freezer and Wine Cabinets are “designed with state-of-the-art food care technology, including Variable Temperature Zoning (VTZ) which allows similar food types to be placed into separate zones where temperature can be adjusted to suit produce at the press of a button. For wine, this allows for long term storage, as well as the perfect serving temperatures for every wine variety”.

These modular appliances can be mixed and matched with different sizes and finishes and installed side by side or individually throughout the kitchen. Designed with 3mm gaps and no visible hinges or grilles means these appliances have been “engineered to fit flush with cabinetry for a seamless and considered kitchen aesthetic,” the company says.

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THE KITCHEN OF THE FUTURE

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THE FALL AND RISE OF THE KITCHEN

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

FRIDGES, FREEZERS & WINE CABINETS

SUPPLIERS Blum architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/blum-australia DA Christie dachristie.com/ CASF architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/casf-australia Caesarstone architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/caesarstone Schwiegen architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/schweigen-silent-range-hoods Billi Australia architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/billi-australia Condari condari.com.au/ Fisher & Paykel architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/fisher-paykel-appliances Smeg Australia architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/smeg-australia

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“Having admired Caesarstone for years, I’m so excited to bring it into the outdoors!”

Award-winning Landscape Designer

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WORDS STEPHANIE STEFANOVIC

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

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JAN-MAR 2021

Not just an afterthought: The architecturally relevant role of paint

There is a common misconception that paint is a decorative element with no real architectural importance.

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While it’s true that paint often falls under the definition of interior design, there is no doubt that it has an important role to play in the creation of architecture that is safe, sustainable and visually striking.

CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE By now we are all aware of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the impact they can have on indoor air quality and in turn, human health.

As a result, we have seen the development of many new low VOC paints over the past few years, and the use of these non-toxic paints has quickly become standard in many architectural projects. But now that there are so many low VOC options to choose from, it can be difficult to ‘cut through the noise’ and choose the most effective option for your use case.

One sustainable paint option that stands out, however, is Ecolour’s water-based paint.

Completely VOC-free, it is suitable for interior, exterior and timber finishes, and can be tinted to almost any colour from any paint chart.

Because there are no VOCs, this means there is no unpleasant paint smell and spaces can be safely and comfortably occupied while painting.

Perhaps one of the most impressive examples of its use is in 10 Star Home, a sustainable build in Adelaide that boasts a 10-star NatHERS energy rating. Designed by SUHO, the goal was to demonstrate how the building industry can contribute to an ecologically sustainable future through clever design and collaboration. It was important that the structure was durable and adaptable, using contemporary construction materials and techniques to build a home that contributes to the circular economy. At the time of its completion in 2020, 10-Star Home was the first 10-Star rated home in Adelaide, and one of very few in Australia.

Ecolour’s VOC-free paint was also used inside The Commons, a Melbourne mixeduse residential building designed by Breathe Architecture. The aim behind The Commons was to create a residential building that would facilitate a sustainable lifestyle and a strong sense of community, while also being a flagship of sustainable development that could be easily replicated. This was achieved by designing a simple building using natural materials, according to Breathe, which won the Best of the Best award for The Commons at the 2014 Sustainability Awards.

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On the subject of materials, another low VOC option worth mentioning is Intercote by Rockcote – a water-based, low odour paint with less than 5g/L of VOCs. The new range, expected to be released in 2021, includes Rockcote’s Hydratech technology, which creates a water-repellent barrier that provides stain resistance and ease of cleaning. This makes it a good solution for residential builds, especially in moist and stain-prone areas such as kitchens and bathrooms.

“In this day and age, it is expected by tradesmen and homeowners alike that interior products have low, if not very low VOC content,” says Alana Dewar, product innovation and development coordinator at Rockcote.

“However, with a reduced VOC content comes an expectation that performance must be compromised. Intercote has been specially

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formulated not only to compete with very low VOC interior paint products, but also paint products that contain much higher levels of VOC to ensure that tradesmen and homeowners can feel assured there is no compromise when choosing a product that is right for their health.”

COATINGS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS THE PAINT UNDERNEATH Let’s not forget about coatings, which may not always be visible to the naked eye but can have a real impact on the durability and functionality of a build.

Apartment buildings, for example, require a solution that is low-maintenance and weather-resistant. One good option is Interpon D3020 Fluromax, a coating system based on Flurocarbon technology. According to Interpon,

D3020 is a cost-effective and environmentally conscious alternative to liquid fluorocarbon paints. The powder coating does not require the use of solvents or VOCs and is Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) certified. Some common uses of D3020 include its application to architectural aluminium in window systems, curtain walls, balustrades and louvre systems.

One notable example of its use is on the facade of a building in NYC’s Hudson Yards development – the largest private real estate development in US history, and one of the most complex construction projects ever built in NYC, according to project lead KPF. Interpon D3020 was used on 35 Hudson Yards, a mixeduse skyscraper designed by SOM that includes 143 private residences, a luxury hotel, fitness club and spa, first-class office space and ground floor retail.

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Hudson Yards’ tallest residential building, 35 Hudson Yards is part of the first LEED Gold Neighbourhood Development in Manhattan, which includes onsite power generation, two cogeneration plants and stormwater collection for reuse on site. Clad in limestone and glass, it was important to find a coating solution that would protect the structure against the elements while also contributing to the project’s sustainable ethos.

Exterior durability is one thing, but what about the resilience of a building’s occupants?

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to consider a lot of things that we previously overlooked, and one of those is the role architecture and design has to play in negating the spread of disease.

In this respect, one interesting product is Pylon’s Bio-Guard, a range of antimicrobial coatings with Biomaster technology, which is based on silver ions. According to Pylon, Bio-Guard Coating offers highly active antimicrobial protection for the lifetime of the coating. It is designed to reduce the ability of bacteria to grow and spread on coated surfaces, while also reducing the risk of crosscontamination. The product is recommended for use in high-risk areas where hygiene is a priority, such as kitchens, bathrooms, aged care facilities, shared living facilities and even domestic furniture.

Not too long ago, it may have seemed overcautious to include antimicrobial coatings in a residential build. But it actually makes a lot of sense to use such a product in kitchens and bathrooms, which tend to be hotbeds for bacteria. And as more Australians move into apartments and shared living facilities, it stands to reason that buildings’ design and materials will need to play a greater role in keeping people safe.

Therefore, while paints and coatings are not necessarily “architectural” in nature, they have an important role to play in healthy and sustainable design – something that is now more relevant than ever. So the next time you are considering paint or coatings for a build, take a deeper look into some of their properties and evaluate how they fit the brief and ethos of your design. After all, paint should never be an afterthought.

SUPPLIERS Ecolour ecolour.com.au Interpon architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/interpon-powder-coatings 86

Rockcote architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/rockcote-enterprises Pylon architectureanddesign.com.au/suppliers/pylon-coatings

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Product Directory

PRODUCTS

To find out more about a specific featured product or to download a related brochure please use the unique product code provided on each module and follow these 3 simple steps:

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PRODUCT CODES

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Welcome to the Architecture & Design

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Visit architectureanddesign.com.au

STEP 2

Type unique product code into search bar

STEP 3

Locate and review further product and supplier information

JAN-MAR 2021

STEP 1

ONLINE Visit architectureanddesign.com.au/products/jan-mar21 to view all featured products from this issue in one place

EMAIL Subscribe to the Architecture & Design eNewsletter to receive product updates, news and projects directly to your inbox architectureanddesign.com.au/subscribe

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SOLAIRE™ FIXED LOUVRE The Solaire™ range of self-mating louvre fins has been developed to provide both Architects and Fabricators a flexible, yet simple solution to external solar control requirements that seamlessly integrate with Australia’s unique architectural landscape. By utilising a range of self-mating clip together blades and accessories.

JAN-MAR 2021

The Solaire™ range has been built on the back of Alspec’s architectural systems knowledge, which balances the needs of both form and function.

Alspec’s design offers a robust solution that offers our customers an economical and flexible fabrication option. With countless configurable sizes and aesthetic possibilities, the Solaire™ range is the perfect solution for your next residential or commercial project.

architectureanddesign.com.au

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AL2759

WEATHER DEFENCE™: BUSHFIRE ROOF

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Products

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Enquiries: 1300 257 732 alspec.com.au/solaire-fixed-louvre

Promat has been working on protection systems for bushfire affected areas since the Australian standard was introduced in 2007. We provide a range of systems including roofing and walls designed to achieve the highest Bushfire Fire Attack Level (BAL) of Flame Zone. BAL-FZ. In the aftermath of the ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires in Victoria considerable effort has gone into improving the fire resistance of houses in Bushfire Prone areas.

Promat have several tested systems designed for houses that are in the most fire prone areas that are defined as BAL-FZ. Weather Defence™ provides BAL-FZ protection to the rooves of residential homes in bushfire prone areas and allows construction to be completed all year round.

Weather Defence™ can withstand exposure to rain, air moisture, and direct sunlight for up to 6 months prior to the finished roofing product being installed.

Enquiries: 1800 776 628 promat.com.au/en/markets/bushfire

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architectureanddesign.com.au

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PUREPANEL®: PREFINISHED REAL WOOD VENEERS PurePanel® prefinished real wood veneer panels are incredibly versatile and provide endless opportunities for any interior. Perfect for designers, architects and joiners who wish to create stylish, unique, and cohesive interiors in commercial and residential applications.

Made in Europe and coloured to compliment Havwoods’ most popular timber flooring shades, PurePanel® brings lasting innovation to every surface. PurePanel® provides opportunities across a multitude of applications such as cabinetry, walls, joinery and just about any surface.

Being prefinished on both sides, PurePanel offers significant time and cost savings, whilst still delivering the distinctive look and feel only available from genuine timber.

architectureanddesign.com.au

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HA1129

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Enquiries: 1300 428 966 havwoods.com.au

JAN-MAR 2021

Utilising Neoperl’s advanced flow control and aeration technology, there are three distinct variants of the standard Pillar model being offered – economical flow, regular flow, and healthcare.

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With the renewed focus on hygiene and infection control due to the Covid-19 pandemic, sensor taps have been shown to be effective in reducing the spread of disease, through non-contact handwashing.

Products

PILLAR SENSOR TAPS FOR HYGIENIC HANDWASHING

The Pillar Standard Eco-flow uses a spray type aerator to deliver a conservative 6-star WELS rating, for applications where water conservation is critical, without compromising on effectiveness of handwashing. The Pillar Standard Regular flow delivers a 5-star WELS rating for general applications where water usage is less critical.

The Pillar Standard Healthcare utilises a special aerator featuring Agion® antimicrobial technology, which offers long lasting protection against bacteria reproduction. Coupled with smooth laminar flow, and timed, automatic flushing of the faucet (in all Pillar models), this model is perfectly suited to health care environments and hospitals.

Enquiries: (03) 9380 8244 autoflo.com.au AU4616

architectureanddesign.com.au

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ARTISAN FOLDING DOOR BY CAPRAL ALUMINIUM The Artisan Folding Door incorporates a technologically advanced folding door system that surpasses that of ordinary folding doors on the market. It moves and feels like no other, because it’s made like no other. At the heart of it all – Effortless Motion Technology (emt), Capral’s AGS ‘Smart Hinge’ and ‘Easy Gliding’ Channel.

This product combines aluminium with high quality 316 marine grade stainless steel components. The integrated folding door system has excellent weather tightness, security, environmental and structural performance. Additional functionality is also incorporated includes internal and external 90° corners.

Features AND BENEFITS: • Heavy duty roller, capable of taking 100kg load per panel • AGS ‘Smart Hinge’ using 316 marine grade stainless steel • AGS ‘Smart Groove’ technology for superior fabrication • AGS multi-point locking system n Sill options including channel, flat and high performance • AGS ‘Easy Gliding’ Channel n Slim operating handle with adjustable positioning height JAN-MAR 2021

• Lockable twin bolt mechanisms for additional security • Up to 4-point locking system allowing dual side entry • Single- and double-glazing options available • Designed & tested to comply with Australian Standard AS2047

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CA2606

WOODWALL®: REAL TIMBER WALLPAPER

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Products

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Enquiries: 1800 258 646 capral.com.au

Produced from high-quality, real timber veneer, WoodWall® is an innovative, natural, prefinished surface material for direct application to internal walls without the need for substrates or framing and at less than half the cost of traditional veneer paneling. A Group 1 Fire Rating means WoodWall® is perfect for installation in foyers, egress corridors and lift interiors, curved surfaces and profiles.

Advantages: • Group 1 fire rating • Available in 16 Eveneer FSC certified veneers and a wide range of natural timber veneers • Quickly and easily installed by wall-covering professionals with standard tools and minimal time on site • Environmentally friendly- up to 300% yield of conventional veneer slicing- saves trees • Saves time and money- less than half the cost of conventional timber wall panelling • Applies to plaster, plasterboard, MDF, metal, plastic and more.

• Flexible – for application to curved surfaces • Folds around a 1mm radius – parallel to the grain- for seamless corners • Long sequence runs- matched and numbered • Packages in easy to handle boxes for convenient site delivery Enquiries: 1300 133 481 eltongroup.com

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SOLAR CONTROL WINDOW FILM FOR COMMERCIAL OFFICES

Kooltherm® K17 Insulated Plasterboard is a high performance, fibre free, rigid thermoset phenolic insulation, sandwiched between a front facing of tapered edge gypsum-based plasterboard and a reverse tissue based facing that is autohesively bonded to the insulation core. It is lightweight and has a thin profile, resulting in more net lettable area for rented space, and easy and fast installation.

Having your windows tinted with our solar control films will block up to 99% of harmful UV rays coming through the glass and help reduce fading of furnishings and floorings. 3M Window Films reject up to 79% of the suns solar energy to help keep rooms at more even, moderate temperatures. In fact, 3M films can reduce the temperature in direct sunlight by as much as 5ºC, making your space more comfortable and usable. There are reduced energy costs to be gained through the extra insulation window films provide, allowing temperatures between rooms to remain consistent. Available in a range of tones and performance levels.

It is CodeMark-certified for BCA compliance and has Group 1 NCC fire classification determined in a full room AS ISO 9705 test in accordance with AS 5637.

Enquiries: 1300 247 235 kingspan.com/au/en-au/about-kingspan/kingspan-insulation architectureanddesign.com.au

PA4639

architectureanddesign.com.au

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KI2631

Enquiries: Paragon T 1800 720 876 paragonfilms.com.au

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

KOOLTHERM® K17 INSULATED PLASTERBOARD

PRODUCTS / JAN-MAR 2021

LOUVRETEC OPENING ROOFS: CREATING OUTDOOR ROOMS

ANGLE-SHOE PIVOTS FOR TIMBER LOUVRES

One of the most requested additions in residential architecture is the creation of a functional, outdoor living area.

Angle-Shoe makes pivots for external vertical louvres. They are ideal for adjustable timber louvres and make the fabrication of solar screens, ventilation louvres and privacy screens simple and affordable for carpenters and joiners. Internally they can be used for adjustable plantation shutters, shoji screens or timber louvre closet and robe doors.

Constructed of high-quality aluminium Louvretec’s Opening Roof range is fully customised to match any architectural style, wind zone and your precise design requirements. Opening Roofs bring functionality, quality, aesthetic and lifestyle letting afternoons transition seamlessly into long evenings. A Louvretec Opening Roof provides a deck area with welcomed operable shade protection and atmosphere.

Enquiries: 1300 695 688 louvretec.com.au LA0805

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The Angle-Shoe Pivots for timber louvres come with many features and benefits. Due to their simple hand tool installation, you can install these pivots without special trade skills. They allow door frames and architrave trims to be completely eliminated.

Enquiries: (02) 6232 6455 angleshoe.com.au AS1944

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DI-NOC™ FINISHES 3M DI-NOC films, each made with a specialised adhesive component, adhere to both smooth and rough surfaces, so they can be used to help solve a wide range of design challenges – from renewing furniture to covering interior and exterior walls, creating interesting architectural focal points. Hotels, offices, hospitality, healthcare or retail are very typical applications.

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P roducts / ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

AB1130

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

ALTRO WOOD™ ADHESIVE-FREE

Altro's DN80 Concealed FT sliding door system is the logical choice for Architects and designers seeking ultra-minimal and inconspicuous detail.

The Euro Concealed DN80 sliding door system has a unique carriage system for minimising the gap between the door and track, eliminating any need for unsightly pelmets.

By popular demand, Altro’s adhesivefree backing is now available across our most popular designs including the Altro Wood™ collection. Enjoy ultra-fast installation times on products that look beautiful, with no compromise on safety, durability or cleanability. Walk on the floor the same day as installation and say goodbye to disruptive smells (and the resulting complaints) on site.

AB2839

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PROCLAD LINEAR: INTERLOCKING FAÇADE SYSTEM ProClad™ LINEAR is an intelligent aluminium interlocking facade system proudly Australian Made from the raw material to the finished product.

The range consists of three different profiles in various sizes and finishes which can be customised to meet suit any project.

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Noise pollution is a part of modern life, but it doesn't have to be. Our Acoustic Curtains and Acoustic Blinds have been proven to be effective against all sound frequencies and different types of noise.

EURO CONCEALED SLIDING DOOR SYSTEMS

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3S7228

ACOUSTIC BLINDS AND CURTAINS FOR NOISE REDUCTION

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AF1926

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LUXURY CONCRETE PAVING & POOL COPING Anston is recognised in the landscape industry for the supply of exquisitely crafted cementitious paving and pool coping products. All products are sourced and made in Melbourne using varying compositions of Australia’s finest quality natural stones and sands, resulting in 25 gorgeous natural colours across four distinct paving ranges.

AA0127

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BESPOKE FACADES: ARCADIA TWISTED FIN SYSTEM

LOCKWOOD SELECTOR SERIES MORTICE LOCKS

The Arcadia Twisted Fin System is the new look that gives the twist and turn your project needs to stand out.

Whilst providing strong aesthetic impact, this product can be used as a solution for a varying range of projects such as; screening for car park facades, solar shading for building facades, external building façade features and soffit and ceiling features.

At Lockwood the local manufacturing facility supports production of a number of critical commercial product ranges. The hero Australian made product is the Selector Series Mortice Locks which is also endorsed by the Australian Made campaign.

AR1009

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AA1942

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PEEL AWAY 8 Peel Away is a patented concept in paint removal where one application removes multiple layers of paint. The Peel Away system has been specially formulated to remove multiple layers of paint in one clean fast application. Peel Away 8 removes acrylic, polyurethane, marine and epoxy paint.

PA0715

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PLANK FLOORS ARTISAN COLLECTION The Artisan collection brings a rustic sophistication to the Plank Floor’s range. With its dusky greys and warm accents, the unique, band-sawn textured surface gracefully enhances nature’s raw and unrefined elements.

The visible appearance and physical touch of the range captures the eye and effortlessly creates a focal point within a space.

PF2105

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INNOHOME STOVE GUARD

The SPACE STEP is a plinth solution that consists of a plinth step and a pull-out that delivers multiple benefits to any area in the home. Designed to be integrated into the kickboards of the cabinet, the SPACE STEP glides open with a touch to the front so that it can be used as a step, enabling the user to reach higher cabinets and creating a safe alternative to wobbly chairs and stools.

With a control unit that switched off electricity to the cooktop before a fire can begin, and remote sensors that monitor the cooktops temperature, Stove Guard is the easy solution to prevent cooking fires.

Stove Guard is made by Innohome in Europe and is approved to Australian & New Zealand standards.

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CP1601

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

Entirely customisable; from aperture colour to waste type; the Nexus® Evolution is a stylish, robust, and versatile multi-stream recycling unit.

Choose from a multitude of colours, sizes, configurations and over 50 apertures, including cup recycling and even confidential waste to fit your exact waste management requirements.

The Ultimate Clamp and pivot base system is manufactured from high quality brass and is tested and approved to hold up to 950mm wide doors allowing for wheelchair access.

DA2103

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RU2457

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

STRYÜM, THE NON-COMBUSTIBLE, AUSTRALIAN-MADE, ALUMINIUM CLADDING SYSTEM

PINK® PARTITION: NONCOMBUSTIBLE, COMMERCIAL PARTITION & INTERIOR ACOUSTIC INSULATION

Stryüm intelligent aluminium façade is a range of high-quality plate aluminium façade panels which provide an attractive, modern and reliable alternative to many commercial cladding products on the market today.

Pink Partition offers the ultimate noncombustible insulation solution for external and internal walls, providing enhanced fire, acoustics and thermal performance. It provides excellent thermal insulation properties, keeping buildings cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

FA1941

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FI1930

JAN-MAR 2021

The new Ultimate Sill-less Semiframeless features a patent pending designed brass pivot base allowing for a seamless no sill modern design.

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NEXUS® EVOLUTION: RECYCLING BIN SYSTEM

P roducts

ULTIMATE SILL-LESS SEMI-FRAMELESS

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BA2226

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

SPACE STEP: PLINTH SOLUTION

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FAST TRACK® WOVEN AXMINSTER Custom woven carpet, delivered fast! Create your own bespoke Axminster carpet and Fast Track® it for your next project. Featuring two carefully curated colour palettes, each containing 12 colours, your custom Fast Track® carpet can be brought to life in 3 simple steps.

GC1208

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

Top of the range, the Evolution 200 features three-stage grind technology and ultra-quiet operation. It’s our most powerful and quietest model. Don’t worry about what you can and cannot grind. The Evolution 200 grinds virtually all food.

DuraGrip Plus Anti-Slip Sealer can provide increased slip resistance to most floor surfaces, allowing property owners/managers to meet NCC, BCA and OH&S requirements. Unique additives provide excellent adhesion capabilities allowing it to be used on just about any floor surface. DuraGrip Plus non-slip sealer can achieve P3, P4 and P5 slip ratings, making it ideal for a large range of applications.

GG1117

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

DILE WALL BED AND SOFA The DILE Sofa Bed features a comfortable sofa by day, and by night its simple intuitive and safe system lowers as a double or queen bed ready for use without moving any objects from the shelf. The sofa, with fully removable cushions features a practical storage compartment.

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

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P roducts

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JAN-MAR 2021

INSINKERATOR EVOLUTION SERIES: FOOD WASTE DISPOSAL UNITS

DURAGRIP PLUS : SLIP RESISTANT NON-SLIP SEALER FOR ALL FLOOR TYPES

IN1222

INVISI-GARD: 316 STAINLESS STEEL SECURITY SCREENS Invisi-Gard is the premium security screen solution by Alspec — an Australian-owned, market leader for over 45 years in the design of innovative aluminium systems to architectural, residential, industrial and home improvement markets.

IN0136

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IC1617

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KEY-GUARD Keystones’s Key-Guard Coating incorporates Biomaster technology.

Biomaster pioneered the use of silver-based antimicrobial additives and today is the recognised leader in antimicrobial technology.

KL1909

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

CONCELO® LAUNDRY

BY HIDEAWAY

MAXI PANEL: PRE-FINISHED PLY PANELLING

Hide your laundry, store your extra linen, or use as a removable washing basket - the Concelo Laundry Hamper is a high-quality storage solution for your home. Made from light-weight polypropylene, it features air vents to reduce moisture, moulded handles for easy grip and a solid base to prevent drips.

The popular Maxi Panel range offers designers plenty of flexibility. There is an extensive range of colours available and the panels are manufactured from your choice of premium exterior-grade Baltic Birch or Monterey Pine.

HB1522

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MA1633

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FENIX: NANOTECH MATERIAL FOR INTERIOR DESIGN Fenix is a smart material used in kitchen and interior applications. It is an innovative material created for interior design. It is designed for both vertical and horizontal applications such as kitchens, bathrooms, design furniture, retail, offices and interior design projects.

NO1615

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INDIVO KITCHEN SYSTEM ALLOWS HEIGHT ADJUSTABILITY OF BENCHTOPS AND WALL CABINETS

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

BL1244

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PETERSEN BRICKS: HIGH-QUALITY HANDCRAFTED BRICKS Robertson’s Building Products is the sole Australian and New Zealand distributor for Petersen Tegl bricks – a Danish brickworks that manufactures a truly unique range of bricks and clinkers. Renowned for excellent craftsmanship, these outstanding products come in an extensive range of colours, sizes and textures.

RB1449

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

Whether you’re renovating an existing home, building a new dwelling from the ground up or working on an architectural project, the colour and quality of the flooring is an important decision, one that is very rarely made in isolation.

RO1948

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AUSTRALIAN FREIGHT HOISTS There was a time when industrial Freight Hoists were the ugly ducklings of the lifting industry. Safetech has redefined Freight Hoists with innovative new designs introducing intuitive stainless-steel control panels, low profile pitless hoists, high speed 100% duty cycle doors, smooth, quiet travel and a host of functional and aesthetic improvements.

SA1111

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HF2449

JAN-MAR 2021

Rocks On’s commitment to offering complete ranges for any architectural and design need, has seen them lead the industry in large format porcelain tiles and slabs. Large sizes offer an aesthetic and compositional interpretation that is seamless and visually enlarging of the project space – from wall and floor coverings to furnishing elements for residential and commercial environment.

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LUXURY VINYL PLANK FLOORING

P roducts

ATLAS XL – ABSOLUTE WHITE PORCELAIN SLABS

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PR7247

Visually, ULTRACORE aluminium core panel looks the same as traditional aluminium composite panel but with zero combustible core content (0%) meaning it achieves the lowest risk rating, category D, from the Insurance Council of Australia.

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

The Indivo range from Pressalit, is bespoke product that has been developed principally for people with limited mobility. All our height adjustable solutions are custom built, which enables architects to be truly creative when looking at the needs of their client, whether it’s for a laboratory, food preparation or study area for example.

ULTRACORE: NON-COMBUSTIBLE ALUMINIUM CORE PANEL

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

DIVA FOLD & ROLL STAGE SYSTEM The QUATTRO Fold & Roll is the proven solution for a growing list of customers who require a stage which is fast and easy to erect and store.

SS1108

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CHEVRON MUSE COLLECTION Chevron flooring patterns have long been associated with elegance and prestige. In the 1600's this pattern became an integral part of the most distinguished homes and stately architecture.

ST1953

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

The ultimate lightweight plasterboard design guide, Systems+ has been purposely designed for architects, engineers, builders, certifiers and plastering contractors to make it easier to select the right system for any project.

The TPS range of fire rated door and window systems are all approved to AS1530.4. It is important to be aware that neither the frame nor glass has a fire rating – it is always the system that has the approved fire rating.

TP0026

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

ZEGO REFORM SYSTEM ZEGO ReFORM System is a reusable formwork solution made from recycled plastic which does not require the foam insulation. ReFORM is fire rated to AS3600 and AS3959-2009 and is suitable for residential applications requiring a full fire rating from BALLOW to BAL-FZ area construction and on or within 900mm of a boundary.

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

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JAN-MAR 2021

SYSTEMS+ PLASTERBOARD SYSTEMS GUIDE

FIRE RESISTANT WINDOWS AND DOORS

UB2411

architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

EFAFLEX: HIGH-SPEED ROLL DOORS DMF International Pty Ltd have been partnering with German manufacturer, Efaflex for over 12 years, supplying and installing their range of specialised high speed spiral and folding doors for many applications around Australia. These unique doors are custom made to size, and the popular SST model, will provide a high speed and secure solution for applications such as carparks, building access, warehouses, government buildings, courthouses to name a few.

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architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

BOSCH HYDRONIC HEATING BOILERS Bosch is a global market leader in high efficiency, condensing hydronic heating and water heating technology. All of our products are designed to deliver heating and hot water comfort. Our environmentally Hydronic Heating range of gas condensing boilers can help lower your gas bills, save you money, and reduce your carbon footprint.

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architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

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architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

EASYDRAIN™ EDGE EasyDRAIN™ Edge is here. This new to market, architecturally-designed, drainage system works seamlessly with your tiles and pavers to create a completely concealed finish.

Installed under the surface, EasyDRAIN™ edge is suitable for low rainfall areas and creates new landscaping opportunities for patios, swimming pools, rooftops, balconies and other outdoor areas.

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architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

MITSUBISHI ALPOLIC™ NC (NON-COMBUSTIBLE) ALUMINIUM CLADDING Mitsubishi ALPOLIC™ NC (NonCombustible) was introduced solely for the Australian construction market, and has the best possible safety rating with the Insurance Council of Australia.

Scientifically proven to be the safest aluminium façade product in real life fire tests around the world. It is fully compliant and backed by a 20-year FULL replacement warranty from the globally trusted manufacturer, Mitsubishi.

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architectureanddesign.com.au/magazine/

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