Category: Architecture

Metaphorical butterfly ‘wings’ -operable portions of roof- open the spaces beneath to the sky, with colours drawn from native Australian butterflies. Each Chrysalis arrives to its end site folded into a ‘dormant’, compact form. Hydraulic pistons within the structural columns push up the wings of the roof, allowing the walls to rotate into place. The pistons then expand, lifting the roof elements into their ‘flying’ configuration, and the butterfly emerges from its dormant stage (‘eclosion’).

The Chrysalis’ modular facade is based on a 300 x 600mm grid of recycled cement panels that camouflage connections between components. Disparate modules can be connected according to the requirements of their end schools, allowing a flexible “mix-and-match” of interior layouts and end function. The suite of add-on elements within the Chrysalis lexicon include modules for bathrooms, offices, and stairs, with additional storeys able to be accommodated as required. The transformation of the Chrysalis is a subtle nod to the transformative power of learning.

Chrysalis relocatables can be orientated to maximise their northern aspect, and photovoltaic cells on each north-facing roof portion power the buildings’ lighting and electrical needs. The operable ‘wings’ of the roof act as giant horizontal louvres that shield their inhabitants from direct sun penetration by day, and allow the building to passively ventilate by night.  High level retractable windows enable natural cross-ventilation of the spaces below, and all openings employ double-glazing, low-E coatings, and thermally broken frames.

Planters designed into the verandahs provide outdoor seating, and climbing plants gradually cover areas of the facade, allowing the relocatables to visually ‘grow’ into their surrounding environments. Lightweight recycled membranes anchored to built-in planters provide shade and informal seating to common outdoor spaces, and link the relocatables into their existing school fabric. The Chrysalis’ roof collects rainwater, and uses this to irrigate toilets and surrounding landscaping.

A Building Management System manages air quality, temperature and CO₂ levels indoors. Artificial light levels respond to changes in external conditions, and water usage is controlled throughout the building. Mechanical air systems within the building temper air below-ground, delivering fresh air via air-con supply grilles in the floor.   Digital display panels placed throughout common areas provide information to students on aspects of the buildings’ management and performance.

Laneway House breaks from the existing suburban condition of large houses with limited open space. The house adapts to the aging family over time and proposes multiple stages of construction, with building timeframes tailored to the family’s budget. The design addresses the 21st century desire to electronically work from home, while promoting ‘real-time’ social interaction with neighbours via the laneway. In its many guises, Laneway House can variously accommodate its original family; a granny flat; home office; teen retreat; or wholly new family, once the original empty-nesters downsize and subdivide their lot – all while retaining the full amenity of their shared green laneway.

The exterior walls of Laneway House extend into the landscape to delineate inside from out, and provide privacy from the lane. Borrowing from the terrace model, skylights draw light into the internal spaces, with further ambient daylighting provided through brick screens opening onto the laneway. Operable glass within the cavity brick screens provides opportunity for through-breezes, and beds of solar cells on the roof reduce the power draw of the house. Externally, the all-too dominant lock-up garage gives way to discrete parking pads that cater to compact, lightweight cars of the future. Brick used throughout the landscaping provides planting beds, benches, and paving with gaps that allow plants to grow through, softening the impact of the built elements, and allowing nature to further alter the house over time.

This prototype skyscraper draws formal inspiration from the native Banksia plant of Australia.

The Vault is the generative element of the design, and the vault ribbing directly reflects the suburban grid beneath. The location of the house is offset from its neighbours, affording residents views out through landscaping to the street while minimising overshadowing to adjacent buildings. Inhabitants car-share to reduce their environmental impact, accessing parking pods along the street via a brick-paved thoroughfare connected to the house.

The Banksia has follicles, or ’pods’, that may release their seeds after many years of lying dormant by opening if burnt or subjected to a similar heat. In a similar vein, ‘the Shock Pods’ are fueled by lightning shocks, capturing the rainwater from a thunderstorm within the openable pods, and electrolysing the water using the power from a lightning strike to break the atomic bond of a water molecule.

During a thunder storm, there is enough energy discharged to power Australia for approximately three hours. With over 2000 thunder storms world wide at any one time, it is an abundant source of energy. By converting this electrical potential energy to chemical potential energy, it can be safely stored between storm events. When the pods are empty they open again to the sky, a visual reminder to the residents of the city the availability of energy and the process of its generation.

This project submitted to the eVolo Skyscraper Competition was included in the Limited Edition Book ‘EVOLO SKYSCRAPERS’, which features the best 300 projects selected from more than 4000 entries received between 2006 to 2011.

The Shock Pod Skyscrapers was part of the EMAGN 2012 Exhibition ‘The Fringe Experience’ at the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, from May-June 2012.

Project Team: Rana Abboud (Design), Ewen Wright (Technical).

The competition called for entries to envision a future for the Australian suburb that embraced increased densities while accepting the established desire to engage with suburban life. Vault House amalgamates the underutilised corners of large, quarter-acre suburban lots into small plots that can accommodate new houses. The Vault House prototype positions itself at the junction between four suburban lots within Sydney’s St Ives, and lies over 13m away from its neighbours. A landscaped buffer surrounds the house, effectively screening it from adjacent properties.

The Vault is the generative element of the design, and the vault ribbing directly reflects the suburban grid beneath. The location of the house is offset from its neighbours, affording residents views out through landscaping to the street while minimising overshadowing to adjacent buildings. Inhabitants car-share to reduce their environmental impact, accessing parking pods along the street via a brick-paved thoroughfare connected to the house.

Brick is used throughout Vault House as structure, ceiling, screening, and floor paving. Austral Bricks’ Dry Pressed Standard bricks in Charolais Cream are placed in Herringbone and Stretcher Bond patterns on floors and walls respectively; while Special Shape bricks, cut and interspersed with standard bricks, create radial patterned screening that throws lace-like shadows when in full sun. High vaulted ceilings overhead and a day-lit oculus give a sense of spaciousness to the interior, and truncated partition walls allow uninterrupted views of the bricks overhead.

Vault House is naturally cross-ventilated, with operable windows and a roof hatch over the central oculus to allow stack cooling. Brick screening and secondary roller blinds mitigate sun penetration in summer, while the brick vault massing is a sustainable thermal store in winter.

Nestled within a grove of eucalyptus trees in regional NSW, the house proposes new uses for off-the-shelf products to meet the design competition brief and ‘think outside the nine dots’.

9 Dot House reconfigures the original ‘nine dot puzzle’ to blur its visual boundaries and challenge viewers’ expectations of the associated building form. The original nine dots ensnare observers into imagining a perceived boundary around the dots, leading viewers to think ‘within the box’ while the solution lies beyond; the scattered dots of 9 Dot House suggest a free-form enclosure, yet the house plan retains orthogonal boundaries. 

Conceptually and structurally, 9 tree-like columns underpin the house design. A retreat from the bustle of the city, there is a playful suggestion of the tree-house in the walkways to the upstairs bedrooms, and grandeur of the double height spaces within.

Cemintel products provide a rich palette of textures and colours that complement the hues of eucalypt leaves and bark outside. Woodgrain ‘Maple’ panels externally visually blend the house into its surroundings. CNC-milled Barestone panels provide adjustable shading and privacy screening to the north.  Dappled light filtering through these panels recalls the house’ leafy surrounds, and contrasts with the solid Barestone defining the wet areas internally. I-Cube ‘Onyx’ panels are reconfigured as shutters to the upstairs bedrooms, and provide feature panelling to the kitchen bench downstairs. In a setting prone to bush fire, Cemintel products provide non-combustible, low-maintenance exteriors befitting a holiday house.

Put simply, exposure to nature enhances well-being. This is the thinking behind Sundials, a speculative residential aged care facility.

Households are small, and contain two internal courtyards – one roofed, one open air – within landscaped grounds that offer a multitude of different outdoor settings. The modular Sundials household may be placed on any site and oriented to maximise daylight, with overhead BMS-controlled skylights allowing fresh air and sunlight to each bedroom.

At the micro level, each household provides 11 typical single bedrooms with ensuites, and 2 bedrooms for more than one person (15 people in total), as well as a bedroom for visitors. The bedrooms radiate out towards the gardens. Some have terraces, that permit residents to plant their own vista; while others do not, accommodating residents whose health needs preclude gardening. The interior of the households boast two colour schemes, to aid with way-finding. Communal spaces are clustered at the centre of the household, with easy access out to internal courtyards, while the bedrooms at the periphery maximise residents’ exposure to the gardens.

Household back of house areas are grade-separated, both for security, to prevent residents accidentally accessing these areas, but also to increase the available area of high-value ground plane and deep soil zones. This freed-up ground level enables a wider offering of communal programme to activate this site, including services that benefit the wider community, from a café, to a small florist, and changing places facility opposite a multi-function community room for 60 people. At the heart of the scheme is a community yarning circle, that provides a place for residents and the wider community to gather and connect. The Sundials communal spaces are all within colourful arched laneways, with key functions colour-coded for ease of identification.