Work has begun on the renovation of a small brick cottage in the town of Newstead in Central Northern Victoria. The building is a double brick structure with corrugated iron roof. The original cottage, probably dating from the early 1860′s had four rooms with a veranda on all four sides and faced down to a river on the west. In the late 1800′s a two room structure was added to the east side to face the newly created street.

A small later addition is to be demolished and the opening created, facing north, will be glazed to create the only north windows in the house. The walls are to be insulated internally, the floor will be rebuilt and insulated and the roof will be insulated. New double glazed french doors will be added to the living space. The original building would have rated less than 1 Star. Once refurbished the building will rate over 6 Stars.

Architecture is now more than designing buildings. We are designing the architecture of a new web site to be called castlemainecupboard.com.au to facilitate lending and borrowing. The idea came while thinking about the books I own, books that other people may want to read, books that would not be in the local library. It is  about community and help bind and enhance engagement in ideas

The concept is; log on and list stuff you have that you would be willing to lend (or even trade).

Start with books in categories. For instance I have a lot of books on electronic and new music.
To borrow you would have to meet the person lending and maybe if the interests were particularly specific or esoteric a local network would grow.

Other areas could include:
FOOD (recipes, cooking gear, produce…..)
MUSIC (CD’s, LP’s, instruments, sheet music….)
NATURE (camping gear, maps, places to go, gardening equipment……..)
IDEAS

We have set up a facebook page, Castlemaine Cupboard, to elicit ideas and commitments from the local community before initiating the web site.

Perfect Cure Creek bush huts

One of a series of bush huts designed for a tender for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to be located at Perfect Cure Creek in the Fraser National Park.

The aim was to create a building that opens out into the natural environment in a way that invites the user to actively explore regardless of weather conditions. If the weather does not tempt visitors outside they should still feel a part of the bush, and be encouraged to contemplate and enjoy it in a different type of way.

The plan is created around two glass doors that slide back from a corner post to open out onto the deck that surounds the north-west corner of the building. The deck includes a built-in corner seat for outdoor eating and wide steps that lead directly into the bush. Inside the sleeping area is on the south and can be opened up to the living space. The double bed with its own window doubles up as a great reading nook during the day. The sleeping area can be closed off with curtains to form private areas in varying configurations.

The north-west orientation means that the outside spaces will be used to the very last light. The east window in the kitchen will let in the first morning light and will make for a pleasant breakfast area. The sleeping quarters are to the south of the building.

Some of the ideas in this little building turned up later in the Carisbrooke St House.

location Fraser National Park

date 1994

status concept

The Victorian State Police Department has made application for a planning permit to the Mount Alexander Shire Council for the design of a new police station to be built in the centre of the regional Victorian town of Castlemaine.

CROSBY architects as a member of the local community with expertise in the area has identified a professional duty to assess this application.

To down load the Castlemaine Police Station-Objection Report click on link

Flip Flop house, the winner of the BDAV 10 Star Challenge, designed by CROSBY architects in association with Lifehouse Design is on the cover of the latest copy of Building Product News.

This is the design image for a proposed new police station in Castlemaine, Victoria. It has been designed by Payne Pattendon Architects and recently submitted for a planning permit.

This building could be anywhere. Ironically, for a police station, it offers no passive surveillance of the street, its aspirations seem counter to those of the community, it appears secretive and fortress like. These are characteristics of a time past for police stations and public buildings in general.  A police station today should have an emphasis on “community participation and public transparency”.

The proposed design achieves a standard of response to the fabric of the town more appropriate to that of a commercial or retail building. These typologies have a much shorter proposed life span with market forces seen as instigator for regular renewal and change. Major civic buildings, with symbolic and communal roles to play in the town, have to be judged to higher standards as they fulfill functions with a much longer historic arch and become artifacts that future generations are the benefactors of but also see, understand and assess our generation by. Communities do not get the chance to build these projects often.

The proposal does not meet the architectural and urban design standard required of a building of this type. We need better than this is for Castlemaine. Have a look at what architectural firm Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp designed for the Bayside Police Station in Sandringham for an alternative that reaches the standard required.

The inaugural 10 Star Challenge organised by the Building Designers Association of Victoria has been won by CROSBY architects in association with Lifehouse Design. The winning entry, The FLIP_FLOP House was  anounced at their awards dinner on Friday 29/07/11.

The FLIP FLOP House achieves a 10 Stars Rating. This indicates that it will require no energy to heat or cool while in normal day to day use throughout the seasons of the year. With the installation of a solar power system this house would flip its energy bill upside down.

The FLIP FLOP house is designed on a modular system to reduce waste during construction. It is designed to use materials in their most efficient form. It is shaped to use as little of these materials as possible. Its selection of materials is based on their sustainability credentials. It is deaigned using standard building industry techniques and commonly available materials so as to be a useful model for the mass housing market.

The FLIP FLOP House is designed to satisfy different family requirements over its life; from parent retreat/home office at the front, kids at the back to granny flat at the rear, teenage apartment at the front, to a separate tenant at the front. The front and back can flip in use over time to sustain the building well into the future. It is also designed to enlarge with the extension of the first floor if needed.

The Building designers Association of Victoria states.

Lifehouse Design in collaboration with Crosby Architects and Lewin Consulting have ‘ticked the boxes’ and given us a sophisticated, simple, elegant, house with a two-storey component. The modular wall treatments would facilitate minimisation of construction material waste and reduction of inefficient site labour processes.

The collaboration between Lifehouse Design, Crosby Architects and Lewin Consulting for the 10 Star Challenge developed from a shared vision to explore less energy-intensive building methods and products. This is supported by a genuine interest in wine, and creating more socially conscious, pleasing built environments.

10 STAR FLIP_FLOP is the 2011 winner 0f the Ten Star Challenge  conducted by the Building Designers Association of Victoria

This house is a collaboration between CROSBY architects and Lifehouse Design. The brief was for a three bedroom suburban house on on a 15 meter wide by 35 metre long block. The design was to achieve a 10 STAR rating. For a suburban house to be environmentally responsible it should do more than have a reduced energy requirement while in use:

energy

THe FLIP_FLOP House achieves 10 STARS. This indicates that it will require no energy to heat or cool while in normal day to day use throughout the seasons of the year. With the installation of a solar power system this house would flip its energy bill upside down.

materials

The FLIP_FLOP house is designed on a modular system to reduce waste during construction. It is designed to use materials in their most efficient form. It is shaped to use as little of these materials as possible. Its selection of materials is based on their sustainability credentials. It is deaigned using standard building industry techniques and commonly available materials so as to be a useful model for the mass housing market.

use

The FLIP_FLOP House ios designed to satisfy different family requirements over its life; from parent retreat/home office at the front, kids at the back to granny flat at the rear, teenage apartment at the front, to a separate tenant at the front. The front and back can flip in use over time to sustain the building well into the future. It is also designed to enlarge with the extension of the first floor if needed.

New adaptable house

On the drawing board is a new house for a small lot in a regional Victorian town. I started this design before the FLIP FLOP house and it has informed that process. Now I want to take some stuff back into the design from what was learnt in the FLIP FLOP house.

Elements of the design will include a reverse brick veneer southern bedroom and services spine and an open veranda like living space across the north (see model with roof missing on left, north is down the page).

The roof will have a generous overhang to the north supported by vertical open trusses that will act as growing frames to shade from the east and west glancing sun in summer.

The street end of the living space can be divided off for use as a home office of guest room. The lower ground floor will be used as an independent but linked small apartment which can be accessed by a path from the street down the south side or directly from the house above.

The garden will be divided into different zones for private use by different occupants. Tanks will be incorporated under the house in part of the existing cut to the ground a legacy of some previous intention for the site.

location Chewton, Victoria
date 2011
status in design