Construction Design Assignment 3 Queenscliff House CA_A3

ABPL20033 - Construction Analysis, Semester 1 - 2019 Dr Sofia Colabella, Subject coordinator Dion Keech, Tutor Tianyu Liu, 980346, 3 June Queenscliff House, Tutorial 04 ASSIGNMENT 3

FLIPBOOK SECTION 3A: Layers of information

Melbourne School of Design, photo by Sofia Colabella

Layer 1 Structural systems, below ground How did the site conditions affect the design of the house?

Since Queenscliff house is located near the beach, the coastal climate and the sandy site conditions greatly impact the design of the house.

The design of structural system below ground was affected by the loose sand earth condition. Before the excavation work on this site, a pilling wall was constructed to avoid the collapse of the earth (not shown in this section). The density of pad footings is larger than average in order to enhance the strength (dealing with the loose sandy earth), even though the building footprint is inevitably increased.

Given the high level of moisture, the metal structure of this house is all galvanized.

ABPL20033 - 2019, Tianyu Liu | 980346 |04 | Dion Keech | p. 2

Layer 2 Structural systems, above ground How does the structure define the composition of architectural form and space?

Generally, the structure gives the boundary of architectural volume (especially the primary structures e.g. hot rolled steel columns). The vertical structures define the height and the horizontal structures define the floor and roof. The area of laundry room on the ground floor is smaller than the kitchen on the second floor.

The spatial forms of the ground floor and the first floor are very different. An Insitu concrete wall divide the internal space in the ground floor and on opposite side of the laundry room only has primary steel columns but no secondary timber structure, which is designed open for windows. On the first floor, there is timber wall frame on the outer edge above the ‘open’ space in ground floor, but there is no vertical timber structure above the Insitu concrete wall, here is left to be glazed sliding doors.

Secondary Structure Primary Structure

ABPL20033 - 2019, Tianyu Liu | 980346 |04 | Dion Keech | p. 3

Layer 3 Internal (non-load bearing) partitions How do the internal partitions organise the life inside the building?

The internal partitions include non-load bearing walls and doors (solid hinged door, cavity sliding door and glazed sliding door). The spatial organization is reversed in ground floor and first floor (discussed in layer 2). Both of the laundry room on ground floor and the kitchen on first floor have one side of transparent partition and a view-blocking wall on the opposite side. The reason of designing in this way is that the rooms in this allocated section are functional and not private. Light could easily enter the house and people inside could enjoy the open view.

Glass Sliding Door

Non-load bearing wall

Cavity Sliding Door

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Layer 4 Environmental protections How did the architect approach the design of environmental protections? Do the elevations express or hide environmental protections?

Architect designed the house to conceal environmental protections to the largest extent. The box gutter attached to the lower edge of the roof is hidden behind parapets. The downpipes attached to the box gutter were hidden in walls and eventually connected to the underground drainage water tank. The acoustic insulation and the waterproof sarking are placed within the building envelope and would be covered by physical enclosure in layer 6. Ant caps are used to protect the building from termites.

The use of double glazed windows (& sliding doors) also protect the building in aspect of sound, wind, temperature and moisture. The weather stripping is hidden in the window frame.Subfloor ventilation is beneficial to the building of the moist air.

Sarking Roof Insulation Wall & Floor Insulation

Ant cap

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Layer 5 Mechanical and electrical systems Did the architect organise the internal spaces to place mechanical and electrical services efficiently?

To some extent the mechanical services were not efficiently organised. For aesthetic reasons there were no solar panels installed. But beyond that, the internal spaces were organised well to place mechanical and electrical services.

The kitchen and toilet are directly above the laundry. These rooms need large amount of water/sewerage services going through. The architect arranges the room in this way helps these rooms sharing mechanical systems.

Kitchen Supply

Heating Trench

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Layer 6 Physical Enclosure Systems Do the physical enclosures express aspects of the building (internal spaces, structure and materiality)?

Yes. The differentiation of exterior finishes expresses the different internal functions. The timber cladding matches the internal materiality (timber floors) and the decking boards. The use of French windows (Sliding doors) allow maximum lights to penetrate, giving a sense of brightness. All the enclosure materials emphasise it is a coastal house.

Roof Sheets Gutter, Parapet

Double glazed window/door External Cladding

Decking boards

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