Sunday 2 November 2014

Best wishes


5 X 4

A tiny plot of land in East Melbourne’s Hayes Lane measuring only 5m by 4m will be home to a project whose formidable scope belies its diminutive size.

So runs the byline of the article in Ecolibrium, the admirably accessible print/online journal of the Australian professional association for people involved in the heating, cooling and refrigeration industries.  I really like AIRAH.  A bunch of engineers whose livelihood depends on selling new air-conditioning systems, actually does a much better job at keeping up-to-date on how to avoid it, than do my architect colleagues. The article on this little project is a typical example.
Projects exploring one or more residences on tiny sites crop up frequently enough, especially in Japan. Some even showcase a number of systems to maximise autonomy, or at least minimise their impact on their environment. But few set out to put in place and then monitor every aspect of the project from the team dynamics of the design process, through to performance in construction and occupation.

Rather than repeat much of the detailed description,  I suggest downloading the Ecolibrium article, here.  It covers much useful information like system component sizing and quantitative performance targets.

Better still, the project has set up a blog-like site and a diary, where one can follow the real live adventure of procuring the built outcome, from getting approvals and finding the materials and equipment, to how the project team is implementing the One Planet Living framework.  See:

http://www.fivexfour.com/
Project diary
http://www.fivexfour.com/?page_id=10

It could be that the  early ambitions evaporate as time goes by, but I hope not.  Such potentially useful sources of information are much more rare than the well rendered rhetorical proposals with fanciful rhetoric.



5x4
A tiny plot of land in East Melbourne’s Hayes Lane measuring only 5m by 4m will be home to a project whose formidable scope belies its diminutive size, writes GHD’s Tai Hollingsbee, M.AIRAH, a member of the design team.
Download
http://www.airah.org.au/imis15_prod/Content_Files/EcoLibrium/2014/March14/03-14-Eco-003.pdf


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