I respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the land in which my project is situated on. It is an honour to design and continue to design for Country and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
CONTENT_
04-07 + STUDIO BRIEF & PROJECT OVERVIEW
08-13 + TIMBER WASTE STREAMS
14-23 + CATENARY CURVE METHODOLOGY
24-33 + INITIAL SITING AND BACKGROUND RESEARCH
34-45 + PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL CONCEPT
46-59 + PROJECT REFINEMENT AND DETAIL DESIGN
60-81 + PROJECT DEPLOYABILITY AND CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCING
82-91 + FINAL PROJECT RENDERS
92-93 + RESOURCE LIST
STUDIO OVERVIEW_
“The 2023 United Nations Environment Programme report underscores the pressing issue of global warming, with a forecasted rise in temperatures up to 3°C above pre-industrial levels, significantly surpassing the current 1.8°C increase. To meet the Paris Agreement’s objectives, a global emission reduction of 2842% by 2030 is imperative. The building sector, as a major energy consumer and CO2 emitter, is in urgent need of decarbonisation to mitigate its environmental impact.
In response, sustainable architecture must evolve to address the critical yet overlooked concept of embodied energy, which accounts for all energy required to produce building materials, from extraction through to construction. Traditional approaches have focused mainly on operational energy, neglecting the substantial carbon footprint associated with materials. A paradigm shift is essential, advocating for deep integration of embodied energy reduction into architectural design. This involves a reassessment of material choices, aiming to decrease the energy consumed throughout their lifecycle. Emphasising materials with lower embodied energy, promoting the use of renewable resources, and enhancing upcycling processes can significantly lower the construction industry’s overall carbon footprint.
STUDIO AIM_
This studio is dedicated to applying circular economy principles in architecture, strategically utilising biological materials to enhance sustainability and efficiency. Emphasising the circular economy’s regenerative design philosophy, we aim to shift away from the traditional linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model towards a system that maximises resource efficiency and reduces waste. Central to our approach is the innovative use of both traditional and experimental building materials: wood and mycelium. Wood, a conventional material, and mycelium, an experimental biocomposite, are both inherently renewable and biodegradable, aligning with circular economy objectives and supporting the reduction of the construction industry’s carbon footprint.
This studio will delve into two primary areas: firstly, the adoption and integration of these biological materials into our architectural designs as sustainable alternatives, and secondly, a focus on design upcycling, aiming to transform waste and by-products from the timber and mushroom farming industries into valuable building components and systems. We will explore innovative strategies to upcycle these materials, employing computational design and digital fabrication techniques to identify cost-effective, sustainable building solutions.“
STUDIO BRIEF_
Apply material and system explorations to two main design projects: An advanced manufacturing facility and low-cost housing prototypes for the Swinburne Indigenous Building Co-Fab (IBC) initiative.
The Indigenous Building Co-Fab (IBC) is guided by 5 primary objectives:
Overcoming barriers: Identify and overcome barriers hindering the widespread adoption of advanced construction technologies for and by Indigenous communities.
Innovative technologies: Develop and test innovative building materials and technologies that can significantly reduce construction costs and enhance the environmental performance of community buildings and homes.
Community participation: Communities upskilling to participate physically in the construction process, fostering a sense of communal ownership and collaboration.
Transdisciplinary collaboration: Create new pathways for transdisciplinary collaboration among architects, designers, engineers, builders, sociologists, ethnographers, anthropologists and economists.
Next gen_ education: Inspire and equip the next generation of VET and university researchers with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle housing affordability and sustainability challenges.
PROJECT ABSTRACT_
As we continue to demolish, to conventionally construct and to produce waste at an exponential degree, our culture, nature and care for Country move paradoxically in the opposite direction.
Not only do new methods need to be produced, they need to be systemically ingrained into the people that fund this through all phases of the process. We must prove to the financiers of our urban fabric that there are better ways to approach this issue and the means to do so have been around for centuries prior.
Applying Circular Economy principles and recycling our waste product is not enough, we must introduce new construction techniques, new processes of reuse as well as an elegant care for the things we remove and the things we replace them with. “The Catenary Economy” interrogates waste through digitized methods of historic building practices, utilising short-length timber off-cuts as a catalyst for innovative construction methodologies.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
TIMBER WASTE STREAMS_
In Australia, 87% of all log harvests are from commercial plantations(softwood), with the remainder from native trees(hardwood).
The majority of this is harvested in Victoria (30%)
Major wholesalers of timber in Australia are:
Wesfarmers(13.5%)
Metcash(8.5%)
Private Sector (78%)
In Australia, timber waste is separated into three main categories:
Untreated (Type A)
-Found in furniture and framing
-Not treated with preservatives (Copper Chrome Arsenic, etc. )
-Timber is of high quality
-Can be either: Softwood(coniferous trees, pines or firs) or Hardwood (Broad leaved Oak, eucalyptus, walnut)
Engineered (Type B)
-Veneers, Flakes, Chips & Fibers that are bonded together using various resins that adhere the pieces together
-Plywood
-LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber)
-Particle Board and MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard)
-Finger Jointed Timber
Treated (Type C)
Treated with preservatives to give the timber protection against biological elements (Insects, Funghi, Animals)
Australia’s main source of treated timber is in the form of “softwood”
Can be treated to endure varying weather conditions
Sourcing this waste can come from any of these processes and the re-utilization of this wastage can be realised.
SHORT LENGTH INVENTORY_
“Among the Trees” and “Wastewood” are examples of companies in the market of up cycling and reclaiming these wastage streams from varrying sources.
The parameters of the design process are dictated by the inventory provided by these streams or directly from the offcuts found on construction sites.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
DEMOLITION
This process allowed us to see the varriance in timber member size and quality when designing.
The most common and cost effective solution being short-length off-cuts produced at Demolition,
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
A catenary structure is formed through gravity, where the weight of the entire structure generates its form, this is useful as it allows the entire mass to be in a complete strctural equilibrium, allowing for a reduction in material requirement to support it.
The catenray curve was used as a design driver and tool for discovery due to its ability to host short-length timber interventions.
1889 - ANTONIO GAUDI’S HANGING CHAIN MODEL. http://dataphys.org/list/gaudis-hanging-chain-models/
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
https://www.inspireli.com/en/awards/detail/564
1 Establish anchor points for primary curves.
2 Create primary catenary curves, using anchor points as reference.
3 Create secondary catenary curves, using primary curves as reference.
A key feature to note in the remodelling of these projects is in the span of the members themselves. As their strucutres are generated under gravity their load requirements are reduced and thus material and weight can be manipulated to maximise spaces within.
1
Establish anchor points for primary curves.
2 Create primary catenary curves, using anchor points as reference.
3 Create secondary catenary curves, using primary curves as reference.
Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design
We can then take these structures and use digital scripting methods and AI tools to generate curvature based on member sizes provided by a set inventory.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
Each short length member is staggered and fixed together along a specified curvature. This method allows for multiple layers of members and sizes to be realised dependant on strucural requirements of the design.
PROTOTYPE 1 - DETAILING JUNCTIONS WHERE TWO CURVES MEET & HOW EACH CURVE IS COMPOSED
BUILT BY PETER GHIONIS & MORHAF ALATRACH
SWINBURNE CHILDRENS CENTRE WANTIRNA
SHED 01
SITE BOUNDARY
BOUNDARY
TYNER RD
ADDAM DETRICK ARCHITECTS DESIGN FOR FIRST NATIONS HOUSING ACCOMODATION.
BRIEF DEVELOPED DIRECTLY WITH THE WATHAURONG
KEY FEAUTRES REALISED FROM THE BRIEF WERE:
FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY OF SPACES
GENEROUS AMOUNT OF YARN SPACE
DIFFERING FAMILY DYNAMICS
Utilising this floor plan as a base program siting aided in scale and orientation development.
ACCESS AND INGRESS
PARKING/ADAPTABLE SPACE
BEDROOM
LIVING & DINING
ENSUITE & BATHROOM
KITCHEN
STORAGE/L’DRY
ENCLOSED CIRCULATION YARN SPACE
SHED 01
SITE
BOUNDARY
KEY PRINCIPLES IN APPROACHING DESIGN FOR FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES
- LISTEN A LOT
- BE A BLANK SLATE
- KEEP AN OPEN MIND
- DE-CENTRE HUMANS
- AVOID PRECONCEPTIONS
EXPECT A DIFFERENT DESIGN JOURNEY..
STRUCTURAL FORM EXPLORATION - SHELTER AND SHIELD
Structural principles present by the Wik Mungkan people in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
The catenary curve paired with linear members to delinieate rigidity, void space and shelter throughout.
Arnhem Land repertoir of ethno-architectural types recorded by Donald Thompson.
Gunyah, goondie + wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia.
AuthorMemmott, P. PublisherUniversity of Queensland Press.
Figure 7.5 pg. 161
- Utilising the anchor wall as an internal reference point
- Establishing Shelter Curvature
- Shielding Elements from Established Reference Curves.
Reviewing floor plan movement, emphasis on access and egress with dynamic veranda layouts. The open living conditions followed by programmatic insertions of void space need to be key design considerations throughout.
Gunyah, goondie + wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia. AuthorMemmott, P. PublisherUniversity of Queensland Press.
Figure 12.10 pg. 301
Chen. Swinburne School of Design
Half dome interior of communal gathering place at krakani lumi by Taylor and Hinds Architects
INITIAL PROGRAM MODEL RENDER - CREATED TO ASSESS SCALE AND BUILDING MASSING
Sectional ideation of this initial concept assited in showing me spaces where ceiling interacts with roof and the void space in between. A re scailing of my roofing structure to accomodate additional program was a necessity.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
Initial floor plan ideation informed by siting and program did not offer enough dynamicism. More emphasis to community principles and a step away from the common “General Arrangement” found in most nuclear households was needed.
This began with the segmentation of the housing units to engage with multiple types of yarning spaces. Each unit engages with communal yarning spaces in central grid junctions as well as with their own respective zones. This was included to maximise the hybridity in outdoor to indoor connectivty and circulation.
Type #01Elder’s Housing
2 Bed Units
130sqm
Type #02Singles / Young Couples
2/3 Bed
140sqm
Type #03Multigenerational Housing
4/5 Bed Units
215sqm
A briefing by Professor John Evans (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) at Swinbrune University) Where he outlined housing considerations for first nations communties.
Ensuring the housing can accomodate a mixture of family dynamics in each is vital with each unit being able to accomodate extra family members throughout the year temporarily.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
Climatically the outer structures curvature is oriented to shield the housing within.
PTFE FABRIC SHORT LENGTH
TIMBER BEAMS
120mm x 300mm STRUCTURALLY INSULATED
Chen. Swinburne
STRUCTURAL SEQUENCE: SIMULATING PRIMARY CURVES FOR SHORT LENGTH TIMBER SIZES
Each curve provides a specified length values based on inventory provided.
steel plate 3-way junction
Detail is designed as a cell to deploy to each junction of the primary structure. Sizing scales to timber member requirements.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
Lead: Canhui Chen. Swinburne School of Design & Architecture.
The use of short-length timber offcuts is just one portion of the bigger picture of our built environment. The success in bringing light to this construction methodology involves more than just a strategy for deployability, there needs to be an informed process of active and enforced change through all sectors of the process.
We must re-frame the way we care and think about Country if we are to start to heal it through modern circular catenary economic interventions.
REFERENCE LIST_
Gunyah, goondie + wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia. AuthorMemmott, P. PublisherUniversity of Queensland Press.
