Posted in Architecture

Architectural Design Making a Positive Impact on Sustainability in your Liveable City

If you are faced with the question; “Are you part of a liveable city”, would you know how to answer?

Many would consider any city that they live in as a liveable city, but what does that really mean?

The answer revolves around a few simple words that some of us are well versed with, while others are not. – sustainability, conservation, environmentally friendly, eco-friendly and carbon friendly (to name a few).

Creating a more liveable city comes down to several factors, beginning with residential and commercial designs that offer sustainable features.

Modern technology is now proving that there are new ways of building more sustainable homes, commercial offices and even shopping centres. We did some investigating around Australia and found a few architects that deserve to be praised for this kind of work.

BREATHE ARCHITECTURE – MELBOURNE

A Melbourne architectural company leads a great example by designing carbon neutral homes and commercial properties. Several architects met in December 2019 and collaborated on how to achieve carbon neutral home designs. They are now working together to achieve a more sustainable future in Australian cities.

The Design Director Jeremy McLeod, who founded the company in 2001 together with Tamara Veltre, has asked business owners to pledge that they will take their business into a carbon neutral future via an Architects Declare Architects Act movement. It’s a promise where united architects aim to take Australia into the future with new, modernised designs that will be 100% green powered, carbon audited by 30 June 2020 to ensure it’s working, and will be carbon neutral by 30 December 2020.

Visit their website and check out some of their incredible designs already achieving a carbon neutral future.

BENT ARCHITECTURE – MELBOURNE

Another Melbourne-based architectural company that needs to be praised for their outstanding sustainable work is Bent Architecture.

Established in 2003 by Directors Paul and Merran Porjazoski, they have built and designed sustainable buildings that have won a number of national and international awards, including two open design competitions (Growing Up Green Roof and Living Places Public Housing.

They have proven themselves to be leaders in both residential and commercial designs that are environmentally sustainable, and low costing.

LIVEABLE CITIES CONFERENCE: WEBINAR SERIES 2020

The list goes on with several organisations in Australia already making a positive and sustainable impact in our cities that need to be acknowledged and the Association for Sustainability in Business has been lucky enough to be secure some of the experts in the country for our new webinar series.

If you are interested on how others are successfully achieving positive sustainable results within communities, the first webinar of the Liveable Cities Conference: Webinar Series 2020 is all about sustainable design and architecture making a positive impact on the future of sustainable liveable cities.

The first webinar will be held live online on Tuesday 9th of June 2020 between 10:00am – 12:30pm. The schedule includes three successful case studies delivered by keynote speakers, showcasing how sustainability can be implemented into your liveable city through an intellectually sustainable design. Here’s two of the case studies that will be presented online in June as part of the webinar series.

GINNINDERRY PROJECT

Ms Jessica Stewart; the Sustainability Manager of the Ginninderry project will be speaking about how they have effectively advocated homes with smarter energy solutions that have allowed them to uphold their Ginnindery Green Start Communities rating by constructing sustainable dwelling which create the same or more energy than they consume.

EAST VILLAGE AT KNUTSFORD

Ms Naomi Lawrence, the Senior Development Manager at DevelopingWA, will be the second webinar speaker, delivering a presentation on the case study of the East Village at Knutsford, one of the most highly desired villages to live at in Freemantle in Perth.

The three-part webinar series is set to propel you into the future of sustainable design and several steps closer towards achieving the main goal; to improve sustainable lifestyles.

 

 

Why Sustainable Architecture & Construction are Good for Business

Global businesses are increasingly focusing on sustainability. Contributing 39% of global carbon emissions, there is particular pressure on the construction industry as well as those in architecture and design. Along with preserving our natural resources, the success of companies within these sectors will progressively rely on their continuing to search for more eco-friendly solutions in 2020 and throughout the decade ahead.

New technology and production processes are improving the green credentials of materials used for a variety of design projects, and alternative approaches to sustainability such as offsite production, retrofitting and refurbishing are becoming more widely used in these sectors.

Sustainable design and manufacturing are equally important for the companies who supply these services as well as those who employ them. Whether for office refurbishments or new buildings, businesses should seek out eco-conscious architects, designers, and contractors to help deliver workplaces which benefit their staff, their reputation and the environment.

Here are three reasons why creating a sustainably-built environment is essential and why businesses should take a green approach to their design needs:

Environmental protection

The most important reason architecture, design and construction companies should become more sustainable is the benefits to the environment. 17% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) come from commercial, industrial and residential buildings. Therefore, changes in how these sectors operate can help make the country a cleaner and healthier place. Why Sustainable Architecture & Construction are Good for Business

New decoration technologies also contribute to a concerted effort to protect the environment. One such example comes from premium Sintered Stone brand Neolith’s HYDRO-NDD 2.0, which uses water-based inks rather than solvent reliant variations to reduce CO2 emissions. Another is Neolith’s partnership with PURETi, a leading manufacturer of water-based photocatalytic preventative maintenance solutions, which offers architects and designers a sustainable surface treatment for exterior façades—especially useful for commercial buildings and skyscrapers in busy cities.

Additionally, materials made of natural components can be recycled, minimising the amount of waste going to landfills. Building a circular economy into construction projects from the design stage can maximise re-use of components and reduces embodied carbon through a building’s whole lifecycle.

Offsite rather than onsite construction also reduces the amount of energy used, minimises waste and extends the lifespan of materials. Rather than demolishing existing building stock, retrofitting and refurbishing should always be considered first, as they create more energy efficient, high-performance buildings which cost less to operate, increase in value and are aesthetically pleasing.

Industry leaders

Designing and building sustainably benefits the companies who offer these services as well. Working towards protecting the environment helps build and maintain a good reputation, painting them as leaders in their respective industries and demonstrating their dedication to CSR.

This article was originally published by CSO Magazine. To read the entire article, click here.

Australian Sustainable Design: the Challenges, What We’re Getting Right, and Where to From Here

The drive behind building more environmentally friendly residential homes is coming from individuals, not government bodies, and cookie-cutter developments are holding us back, according to a think tank assembled to address the issue of implementing sustainable design.

Peter Maddison (supplied)

The chair of the discussion, organised by LG Electronics, was architect and TV host Peter Maddison, who argued that changing our behaviour was key to these kinds of properties having their maximum benefit.

“In my view, sustainability is a lot bigger than just green stuff,” Maddison said.

“We can put the best solar panels in the world in our house, and that’s a terrific contribution,” he said. “But, if we leave the lights on all night, what’s that mean?”

He said that having travelled around Australia to document cutting-edge buildings, he’d seen individuals embracing sustainability as leading the way.

Edge Environment chief executive Jonas Bengtsson said much emphasis was put on improving operational efficiency and thermal performance, but building materials were a big blind spot.

“There is no regulation around materials,” he said. “Maybe 50 per cent of the energy is actually in the stuff that goes in, and we’re not even looking at that from a regulation perspective.”

Difficulties dealing with local councils and a lack of awareness around how people can partially embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, or take a standard-build and adapt it to its building location were raised also as impediments.

For many people, being sustainable was building a “big square house” and then putting solar panels on the roof rather than incorporating it into the design holistically.

Maddison said sustainable buildings needed to be tailored to their environment.

“The way we go about making shelter, making buildings, should be quite different, if you’re in Queensland or in Tasmania,” he said.

“We haven’t got a national style that we could say is Australian particularly and so it should be, because we have this incredible climatic difference that we’re dealing with.”

Maddison identified the Queenslander as a localised style of housing that was adapted to the climate, but one that had largely been left behind in the “mad development” of our suburbs,

The sizes of our homes was also a factor, although affordability was driving younger generations to smaller homes.

“The average Australian home is the biggest in the world. Bigger than the UK, bigger than the USA,” Maddison said.

“Why don’t you, instead of getting a 40-square metre home, think about living in a 20-square metre home? You can get an architect, and you can get all the whiz-bang stuff you want, and still coming out on top.”

Differences in the building codes between states and the limitations of star ratings systems were also considered roadblocks.

“In Victoria, you do six stars, but you don’t have very strict water and energy control,” said Tracey Cools, head of a sustainable building consultant firm. “But, NSW has some energy control which I think is really important.

“We’ve had a huge lift in targets of thermal comfort last year, and that has been a really big learning curve for the industry to meet those targets,” she said.

Technology expert Charlie Brown raised the issue of cost, in terms of a standard build versus a more sustainable home. Build costs for an architecturally designed home are about 30 per cent more than an off-the-shelf design.

But while solar installation costs and savings could be easily predicted, the “elastic” costs associated with home building and renovation made it hard to determine how much a project could wind up costing.

“We talk about these kind of thing things, and you all want to do better with it,” he said. “But, you just don’t know the steps of how to do it.”

But as electricity prices go up, installing solar systems at home would remain appealing for residents looking to save money.

This article was originally published by Domain. Click here to continue reading.

Have Your Say When it Comes to Sustainable Design

Submit your presentation to speak about all things sustainable (including architecture and design) at the 2019 National Sustainability Conference, held from 1-2 April in Brisbane.

Submissions closing Friday – get yours in here.

Medical Waste to Produce Durable, Sustainable Concrete

The thousands of tonnes of plastic waste created each year in Australia through dialysis treatment could breathe new life into the construction industry, according to researchers at Deakin University.

A team at Deakin’s School of Engineering is behind the new project, which aims to transform the single-use plastic used in the dialysis project into long-lasting sustainable concrete that could perform better than standard concrete.

Medical Waste to Produce Durable, Sustainable Concrete

Photo: article supplied

The project is a collaboration between Dr Riyadh Al-Ameri, a senior lecturer in structural engineering, Katherine Barraclough from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and John Agar from Barwon Health’s University Hospital Geelong.

It came about when Dr Barraclough and Professor John Agar approached Deakin University to find a practical solution to their waste issue.

Dr Al-Ameri said his project team was hoping that the project would not only reduce wastage, but that the shredded plastic waste would also help better protect structural concrete from corrosion.

“Concrete can crack and damage the internal bond, which can then lead to water penetration and corrosion of the steel bars, critical for providing the strength and integrity of concrete structures,” he said.

“If we are able to facilitate production of new types of concrete that will offer better protection, give structures longer life and better performance, as well as help recycle plastic waste, that will be a great achievement.”

Each individual dialysis treatment can create between one and three kilograms of plastic waste. With more than 12,000 Australians on dialysis, that adds up to about 5,100 tonnes of plastic waste per year, according to Dr Barraclough.

“Haemodialysis – the most common type of dialysis – involves making a circuit where blood is pumped from a patient’s bloodstream through a machine then back to the patient,” Dr Barraclough said. “This removes toxins and excess water and is life sustaining for patients with kidney failure,” she said.

“For safety reasons, both the tubes that carry the blood and the dialyser – the part of the machine that cleans the blood – are made of plastic designed for single use only. The result is large amounts of plastic waste generated from each dialysis treatment.

This was originally published by Architecture AU.

Click here to read the entire article.

Lego-like buildings to tackle sustainability in the Australian housing market

Castlemaine architect Simon Disler thinks there is a crucial missing step when designing more sustainable houses for the mass housing market: flexibility.

“We wanted to come up with a building concept that was really about having a modular floor planning system that means you can shuffle the parts of the building around to adapt to a site to get good performance,” Mr Disler said.

That means thinking about lot size and orientation and then adapting a floor plan to the site so that a house faces the sun. He said this step is a cost-effective way to save energy consumption — but it is missing in the mass housing market.

Dr Masa Noguchi, Associate Professor in Environmental Design at The University of Melbourne agrees.

Even through it was difficult to provide a precise figure in terms of estimated savings, he estimated a 30 percent reduction of use of free clean energy provided for by the sun if a house facing west or east instead of north.

“Orientation of the building is extremely important,” he said.

“The sun is free clean energy so why don’t we use free clean energy?”

Architect Simon Disler thinks customised floorplans are crucial for good solar passive design.

Architect Simon Disler thinks customised floorplans are crucial for good solar passive design.

Mr Disler said one of the problems with the mass housing building industry was the focus on the end product rather than customising the product to suit its location.

“The building industry is sort of characterised by choosing a postcard of a house and crowbarring it into a site,” he said.

“There’s not really any expertise and much consideration of which way it should face regarding the sun which is going to give you your sort of key performance.”

Despite all new Australian housing having to comply with a national six-star energy rating system, Mr Disler said there are “lots of holes in the system” because the energy rating happens on paper prior to construction of the building and not after the build.

According to Mark Davies, group manager at Australian Buildings Codes Board (ABCB), the board is responsible for developing the national construction code but not enforcing it during construction.

“There needs to be both the prescriptive requirements and the code and the follow up by the appropriate building authority,” he said.

Greg Rowell, general manager at mass housing provider Cavalier Homes Bendigo, said a certificate of occupancy is granted by a building surveyor after a “fairly comprehensive” inspection, but it is limited.

“[It] is a visual inspection by the inspector, it’s not based on any thermal testing or that type of thing,” he said.

Mr Rowell agreed that, in an ideal world, a block would be selected and the house designed to suit that block. He said it is something the company does but not often. Instead, most houses are built to face the street.

Instead the company meet their six-star energy rating through the use of efficient materials and includes double-glazed windows, rainwater collection systems and solar panels.

“We do allow quite a few changes that will give the house a better footprint, if you like, to sustainability,” he said.

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