T7 Team Contract

T7 Contract

*** As posted above by Peter Scott ***

Minima

T5 DOMUS CONTRACT

T5 DOMUS MEMBERS: David Harris, Justin Bullen, Chris Cogdon.

MINIMA

Here I went through a few ideas which eventually developed into a design I thought used the most minimal amount of space while allowing enough space for ones own comfort (developed from left to right, top to bottom). I tried to express my ideas visually rather than diagramatically.

Plan, sections and an exploded view of construction methods using marine plywood and galvanized screws. This is what a staff member from Mitre 10 recommended, however realistically it probably would not be so structurally effective. I also looked up which sliding doors and windows I would use however im not sure if it was really relevant, perhaps bigger and more thorough drawings of the plan and sections would have communicated better to the design intent.

Here are some model photos and a view of the design within the site, located in the rafters above the Percy Baxter theatre.

MINIMAL

My approach to Minimal was to 'enclose' or bound a minimal space. By doing this however, I still had alot of free space around the design which in fact wasnt very minimal at all. Even after misunderstanding the brief, I now have a better sense of 'minimal' and minimal human needs, and this project has proved to be a valuable learning experience nevertheless.

Another thing I learned in this project is not to use arrows and other diagrams to explain ideas. Design drawings should be well constructed and clear enough to explain itself without the aid of directional arrows.

Project 2 Minima

The rough sketches above show my first attempts at minimalising space through doubling the bed as a desk. They also show that i have considered the lack of privacy of the chosen site, on the rafters in the waterfront and my attempts to allow light into the strcuture, whilst maintaing its privacy, through the use of skylights. The idea of the design above was to have angled window extensions to allow light in whilst maximising privacy for its occupants. I ended up deciding against this idea, as the protruding windows increased the amount of room the module would take up and hence didn't fit in with the minimal concept. This design shows how i resloved the protruding windows through placing a louvre panel over the main window opening.
The sketches above show how i refined the previous design to make it more streamlined and minimal. The structure uses louvres over the windows to maintain the pods privacy and also allows plenty of light to enter through the skylight which is above the line of eye and hence private. the sectional drawing shows how the occupant is able to comfortably use the desk underneath the bed. this arrangement is designed to minimise space. Rough sketches showing how the pod de-constructs. Above-Panel connections. Below-a series of drawings showing the pods highly minimal construction process.

Floor plan


Site plan


Northern elevation



Section
SectionSection Section

Design process final poster
Sections-final poster
Elevations, 3d view, plans-final poster

Construction process-final poster

Project 3 - Domus - Research

Research

Our team, T7, consisting of Peter Scott, Tristan Hyett and myself, have decided to tackle the Domus project at the hot & humid climate of Litchfield, near Kakadu, in NT. Whilst at this current time we have only limited information on our site, I think it would be a good opportunity to start researching some sound tropical architecture.

Troppo Architects, based in state capitals across the northern half of our country, are renowned innovators and set the industry benchmark for tropical architecture in Australia. Here are some of their completed projects around the top end of the country.


Another architect that has established himself as the archetypal Australian designer is of course Glenn Murcutt. Internationally acclaimed, and rightly so, Murcutt has provided Australia with much of its iconic residential architecture of the last 20 years. Murcutt was the recipient of the prestigious Alvar Aalto Medal in 1992 for his work around our sun-burnt landscape. His architecture is widely recognised as both functional and beautiful - a marriage that is at the best of times, arduous to achieve.

Here are some photographs of a few of his projects. I will work to further explore and attempt to extract design features as used by Murcutt in his tropical architecture. Can't beat learning from the master!

Project 2 - Minima

Site Selection






Research



Development




Refinement










Final Presentation

Analysis
Concept / Process
Synthesis
Dissection Collage