Concept 1

Here is my idea for the facade of the warehouse and showroom. They are based on the two Glenn Murcutt buildings i have on this blog. Im not sure if i like it.
The warehouse has red colourbond on the outside and the showroom has steel grid looking thing. I wanted the facades to be different on the two buildings because using just one maybe to overwhelming. The roof shape helps to break the lateral feel of the building and gives it some shape. The wooden slates across the windows helps create some depth and interest in building and also helps protect the building from heating up to much. The basic structure will be made out of steel.

Article#3 Newcastle Steelworks- ENGINEERS MAG VOL 79

In Mayfield Newcastle a 1.5km, 49m deep bentonite barrier wall has begun to be constructed. This wall is part of a $110 million remediation strategy for the former Newcastle Steelworks.
BHP Billiton has owned the site since 1915. In 2002 the NSW government negotiated a land transfer with BHP Billiton. BHP Billiton demolished the buildings on site and RMLC staff set to work on how the site could be remediation that would be compatible with the future land use and acceptable to the environmental regulator.
A number of remediation and treatment options were discussed. Taking into account the depth of the containment it was concluded that capping and containment of containments was the best option, although more needed to be done about the control of the ground water.
This strategy had been designed to help contain the contaminated soils as well as manage contaminated ground water which it brings it into line with standard regulations which will allow the site to be used for industrial usage. This protects the adjacent Hunter River from any environmental damage.

The underground wall is being built in a water-charged area, which means it is a difficult task to build.
The construction method involved a continuous trench, which is up to several hundred metres long and only one metre wide. The trench is filled with bentonite slurry to support the trench in the water charged soil. The backfill is made up of soil and slurry replaces the bentonite at the rear of the trench to replace the slurry. The natural clay and rocks already in the soil support the lower part of the trench.
The concrete slabs that were left over from the steel works have been dug up and are ready to recycled on site. 80% of the concrete’s been crushed for use in the sub base for capping the site, while the remainder 20% will be used for the construction drains.

Article#2 Melbournes Council House 2- ENGINEERS MAG VOL 79

Melbourne’s council house 2 has been the first new multistorey building to receive a six star energy rating. The ten storey high building will during October after it has stood for a year find out whether it has lived up to its’ name.
The 77 million dollar building stands in Little Collin Street in Melbourne CBD was never designed to be a technical masterpiece. The aim of the building was not to impress by sight but to impress by proving such a building is possible. The director of the project said the aim was to set a benchmark for the rest of the industry.
This building will reduce electricity consumption by 85% and gas consumption by up to 93%. Emissions will be 20% less of the current Council House standing next door.
Some of the technical devices installed in the building to allow for these huge reductions are phase-change materials for air-conditioning, automatic windows that purge air at night, façade louvres that follow the sun and are themselves powered by photovoltaic cells, chilled panels, and plants to filter light. The building has a huge concrete core which acts as a thermal mass to assist cooling.
The building has a built in treatment system to extract the sewer running underneath Little Collins Street This system applies this treated water to such thing as toilets.
One of the difficulties when approaching this project was educating the people in the construction and building part of the project that something like this could be built and how.

Article#1 TIMBER FLOORS- THE AGE 24 APRIL

Timber flooring used to be a standard in all Australian homes, but now environmental concerns means that concrete floors are going to be the go from now on,
Changes to energy saving regulations as of next month means that there will be added pressure on builders to use concrete slabs in replace of timber floors.
The 2005 regulations excluded timber floors in meeting the five star energy rating. But next month this exclusion will disappear. Environmentalists are happy with the change, however the building industry is complaining it will add costs, hurt the industry and reduce consumer choice.
The HIA wants the concession to extend for another 12 months until new software can calculate energy use is introduced.
Builders have estimated that 15 to 20 per cent of there home designs will be affected.
Building Commissioner Tony Arnel said that timber floors can be used on top of concrete slabs to receive the five star rating.
A Gippsland builder said 100 of his 120 houses a year use timber floor because it is the best option for such a hilly area, using concrete slabs means an additional cost of up to $10,000.
The five star rating which is being used does not calculate the energy used in creating the materials, researches suggest concrete may be less energy efficient over the whole life span of the building compared to timber, an argument HIA have used against the new proposal.

Information on Glenn Murcutt

This is a quote that has been said about Glenn Murcutt "Glenn Murcutt has become a living legend, and architect totally focused on shelter and the environment, with skills drawn from nature and the most sohpisticated design traditions of the modern movement."

Glenn Murcutt was born in London but grew up in country NSW. This is where he learned to appreciate simple, primitive and basic architecture.
One of Glenn Murcutts favourite architects growing up was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Murcutts early works strongly reflect Mies van der Rohes ideals.

He is environmentally consciuos when building and designing his houses. He believes in "touching the earth lightly".

When asked what materials he prefers to work with he said "all, you have to understand the nature and preciousness of all materials, I like a combintaiton of metals, concrete, timberm masnory and stone.
He likes the colours white, black, shades of black and nature materials colours.

Glenn Murcutt

This is the Magney House in NSW. The roof line is interesting, but it appears as though he uses the same structure as in his other houses.
From looking at these buildings im going to make the assumption of using steel construction with a mixture of colourbond and wood on the outside.

Glenn Murcutt

This is a detail of the Marika Alderton house. Shows the materials that Murcutt uses for his roofing systems.

Glenn Murcutt

This is Glenn Murcutts Simpson Lee House. Shows the elevation of the building and the sturcture that he used.

Detail on connection

This is where the two different structures meet. The beam for the newer area juts up against the old column and uses the strenght of the steel column for support.

The electrical services are visible as well. The gap in the plasterboard allows the electrical wire to run down the room to the toher lights.

Room without Columns

This view is looking into the original hall. It shows the span of the building and the impact a column would've had if long span was not possible. Shows the height of the building as well.

Church

There is an additional room attatched to the main hall which was added later on. It does not use the portal frame idea. It has a slightly pitched ceiling and has a low clearance. However the pitch goes the opposite way to the original hall. You can see the wooden beams used to support the roof load. There are once again no columns in the middle for the same reason as before. This is now the front of the church and main area used for worship.

Church

This is where the middle of the room is. You can see the joint of the two rafters are. It looks as though they were welded and bolted together. Couldn't get up there to check out what exactly the bolt types were.

St Albans Chruch

Here is the over all look of the building. You can see the detail of the wall and rafter on the right side. There is no column in the middle of the building so as there is more space for chairs and doesn't obstract the veiw to the front.

St Albans Church

Here is where the rafter goes into the next section of the building. It is a neat finish although there are gaps.

If you look closely you can see some services going down the wall.

Site Visit 2- St Albans Church

One sunday morning i was sitting in church and looked around the building and noticed it to be a portal frame, although it looks a little different.

This frame doesn't have so much haunching as originally said, cos i thought it had to be one third of the lenght.

This is a good example because you can see additional bracing in the column.

Inside Details

Here are some detaisl of the roof on the inside. As you can see from the second picture you can see daylight through the gaps between the woodwork and the guttering. This will not keep the water out. If you look closely the wood work is rotting st the ends there moisture as come in.

The corrigation presents the same issue with leaving gaps where the roofing material meets the gutter. This is a huge issue considering the roof of the other garage is draining water straight towards these gaps.

Inside the Garage

This is the drainage system inside the garage. The guttering is visible inside one of the garages. The pipes run down inside the building as well. This presents problems of over flow and the impact it will have on the interior of the building.

Detail of Gutter

This is a detail of the actual gutter itself and how the two roofs meet the gutter.

Box Gutter Details

This is a box gutter that is used for drainage of a two garages side by side. Both roofs angle down to the gutter from about a 60 degree angle.