Exploring Materials..

I need to look into what materials I'm going to use with my construction analysing different materials for their:

• ability to be sourced locally
• durability
• embodied energy
• suitability to stormy and flood prone areas

Hempcrete

• Thermal mass - providing natural insulation
• Carbon sequestration
• The benefits and strength of concrete without the negative environmental effects of concrete
• Constructed within timber framing
• Hemp is fast growing
• Less manufacturing and embodied energy in lime used in hempcrete vs concrete
• Recyclable

Bamboo

• Fast growing - can be grown basically anywhere
• Strong and able to be used structurally
• Comes in many different varieties
• Long lasting if treated right
• Can do the same thing that regular plantation timber we use does with a lower carbon footprint
• Can be used in: scaffolding, walls, thatching, panelling, tiles, sheeting, flooring
• Used through Asian countries

Plantation Timber

• Slow growing, therefore larger areas needed for plantations
• Loss of biodiversity in plantation areas
• Strong and long lasting
• Often treated with chemicals during growth
• Mostly non native trees used

Earthships

Earthships are a really interesting construction looking at building into a hill or building earth up around a house. 'Earthships Building a zero carbon future for homes' by Mischa Hewitt and Kevin Telfer looking at how to build earthships and how they might be one of the best options for future construction.

 

(Hewitt & Telfer 2007)

• Low carbon construction alternative
• Using thermal massing to passively heat and cool
• Ability to recycle all kinds of unwanted materials like tyres and glass bottles and aluminium cans
• When constructed right, can be autonomous and self sufficient - by reducing demand of resources and then seeking to use renewable sources to power remaining elements

References:

Hewitt, M & K Telfer. 2007. Earthships Building a zero carbon future for homes. Berkshire: IHS BRE Press

What to choose?
Really it seems like Bamboo is the best option because it is easy to grow on the site, easily accessible and shouldn't take up too much room. No matter what product I choose there will be an element of loss of biodiversity in creating a plantation to grow the products. Although I really like the idea of building some earthships into the hill, I'm not 100% sure about drainage issues if there is going to be a lot of water. I do love the idea of earthship constructions though. I'm not sure if the hempcrete will be necessary for construction either.

Exemplar - John Hardy's Green School..

I've come across this exemplar of a whole system approach to change. The 'Green School' in Bali is an a school, they grow their own food to eat for lunch, they teach in different ways, they are multicultural and accept different styles of learning, they use recycled materials and their constructions use local techniques.

As well as this the structure are amazing bamboo buildings that are just beautiful. It really opened my eyes the possibility of bamboo construction. It's fast growing, used widely through Asian countries and clearly can do all kind of amazing structural things.

Seasonal Farming & Planting Schedules..

I need to work out not ony where to plant everything but when, I want to have a complete understanding of the farming and the land.

From research i've developed a basic schedule of crops:

 

The following are pointers of farming systems I will probably follow with Woodfordia.

  From "Starta a 1-Acre, self sufficient homestead" by John Seymour

Intensive Gardening
The remaining half of your homestead — the arable half — would be farmed as a highly intensive garden. It would be divided, ideally, into four plots, around which all the annual crops that you want to grow follow each other in a strict crop rotation.
An ideal crop rotation might go something like this:
— Grass (for four years)
— Plot 1: Potatoes
— Plot 2: Legumes (pea and bean family)
— Plot 3: Brassicas (cabbage family)
— Plot 4: Root vegetables (carrots, beets, and so on)
— Grass again (for four years)
Consider the advantages of this kind of crop rotation. A quarter of your arable land will be a newly plowed-up, 4-year-old field every year, with intensely fertile soil because of the stored-up fertility of all the grass, clover and herbs that have just been plowed-in to rot with four summers’ worth of cow manure. Because your cow will be in-wintered, on bought-in hay, and treading and dunging on bought-in straw, you will have an enormous quantity of marvelous muck and cow manure to put on your arable land. All of the crop residues that you cannot consume will help feed the cow, pigs or poultry, and I would be surprised if, after following this crop rotation and grazing management plan for a few years, you didn’t find that your acre of land had increased enormously in soil fertility, and that it was producing more food for humans than many a 10-acre farm run on ordinary commercial lines.

Poultry could be kept in a permanent house in one corner of your garden, or, preferably, in mobile coops on the land, so they could be moved over the grassland and improve soil fertility with their scratching and dunging. I would not recommend keeping very many birds, as just a dozen hens should give you enough eggs for a small family with a few to occasionally sell or give away in summertime. You would have to buy a little grain for them, and in the winter some protein supplement, unless you could grow enough beans. You could try growing sunflowers, buckwheat or other food especially for them.
Goats, if kept instead of a dairy cow (or in addition to), could be managed in much the same way, however you would not have as much whey and skim milk to rear pigs and poultry on, and you would not build up the fertility of your land as quickly as you could with a cow. You would only get a fraction of the manure from goats, but on the other hand you would not have to buy nearly as much hay and straw — perhaps not any. For a farmer wanting to have a completely self-sufficient homestead on 1 acre, dairy goats are a good option.
Crops would be all of the ordinary garden crops (fruits and vegetables), plus as much land as you could spare for fodder crops for animals. Bear in mind that practically any garden crop that you grew for yourself would be good for the animals too, so any surplus crops would go to them. You would not need a compost pile — your animals could be your compost pile.
Half an acre, farmed as a garden with wheat grown in the other half-acre, is worth a try if you kept no animals at all, or maybe only some poultry. You would then practice a crop rotation as described above, but substitute wheat for the grass and clover field. If you are a vegetarian, this may be quite a good solution. But you could not hope to increase the soil fertility, and therefore the productiveness, of your land as much as with animals.

Seymour, J. 2011. Start a 1-Acre self-sufficient Homestead. Accessed September 26, 2012. http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/self-sufficient-homestead-zm0z11zkon.aspx.

Masterplaning..

I did a really dodgy sketch in the tutorial looking at masterplanning the site, but I was mainly just forcing myself to put out on paper what was in my head rather than not drawing anything and continually reading.

They're the main things that I'm going to implement in Woodfordia and the main things I believe it needs: festival space, accommodation, education, soil restoration and improvement, agriculture and wetland space.

I divided them by the prospective uses of the current site, the SW of the site is already setup for terraced living, and with a small lake it could be a nice settlement, also along the south is acidic soil so is perfect for building on but I also want to implement a program of soil restoration, for both an educational benefit and soil health. I made the educational areas centralised for obvious reasons and the wetland farming over where there is another dammed area. Similarly the festival site can remain where it is, with the natural amphitheatre setups and easy access.

I then transferred my ideas onto a bit of trace over the map to give it a proper context and look at whether my ideas would actually work.

  

It's a reasonable start to begin looking into land allocation with enough area for agriculture and festival needs.

Tutorial Week 9..

This tutorial I started thinking about the principles I want to follow in my design, like all the pattern language stuff we used in the first assignment.

I don't have to be so rigid in my ideas of what the festival will be. With just cause I can adapt the festival to whatever it needs to be, and in my case I need to work it in with the agriculture and education somehow.

Steph has told me I should be sketching ideas out of what I'm reading, which i haven't really done yet, I've just been reading and researching. Diagramming and doodling sketches aren't really my strong points. I've tried to sketch some of the ideas this week as I wrote things down.


Over the break:
I need to draw everything, even if it's just simple sketching!

Lecture Week 9..

This week's lecture was about how people are going to use the spaces of my architecture, which I haven't really worked up to yet, I've been too concerned with making sure my future scenario was solid and that I could design something that would actually sustain people.

The lecture was fully of really interesting images about how the same task can be done in different ways, like reading in a library vs reading with silly little head cover things to isolate your device.

 

 He also talked about how architecture can create attention, how it can be a big event within itself.

Am I being too straight forward, and not thinking outside the box?

Is there a more interesting and creative way to live sustainably and to have agriculture?

Does everyone need to be completely immersed in the farming?

How do I make sure everyone is engaged with the lifestyle of learning and farming and living within their means?

 

Return Brief..

The brief that I'm working towards following as I design my new Woodfordia:

A community educating and working with both climate refugees and Australians to create and sustain small, self sustaining communities. Using and learning form the techniques of multiple cultures to create efficient and sustainable farming communities.
With goals to improve bio-diversity and cultural diversity, to create and out-plant sustainable communities.
A small community living and learning on the site, learning and working together. Their lifestyles and architecture have developed to become resilient to the storms and polarities of climate and weather that the site exists within.

Tutorial Week 8..

I wanted to do more research into the weather patterns and how people are going to live through that before I went further with my community plan.

I spent most of this week's tutorial reading through parts of 'A Change in the Weater' a book about climate and culture in Australia.

Chapter 2: Climatic Outlooks by Neville Nicholls
The affects of El Nino on the weather systems of Australia and India are the main causes of most of our weather systems. Tye El Nino causes irregular rains followed by drought and is a regular occurrence, but not necessarily annually. This ESNO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) is what causes most of the dramatic storm and drought events that we've experienced. As it reoccurs people now understand a little better the predictions and the effect it might have.

I wonder if this is the only weather phenomenon that will be effecting Woodfordia in the future, and if so does that make my prediction of regular seasonal flash flooding followed by droughts too overly dramatic?

Chapter 5: Goyder's Line y Janis Sheldrick
This chapter didn't have as much relevance as the El Nino chapter did but it was very interesting reading about the early settlers adapting to the climate of Australia down south. This 'Goyder's Line' was widely misinterpreted and simply just the imaginary line where enough rain fell to cultivate the land properly. It provided guidance through periods of drought and helped to show where the arable land would lie when people went to purchase it.

While it doesn't hold as much relevance to my project, reading this article has also made me think about listening to and adapting to the land, making sure I put things in the right place.

The following chapters highlighted interesting points of our settlement in the tropics, impacts of climate change and our need for new energy resources, followed by an article on Cyclone Tracy.

Chapter 14 Cyclone Tracy by Bill Bunbury
More than the technical weather position of cyclone, this story provided a psychological insight into cyclones and how they break more than buildings, they can tear apart communities and families. The storm is loud and fast and dark, ripping apart anything in its path. It destroyed most of Darwin. While i don't think anyone can design much to withstand storms of this force, I need to research into structures that will cope better with harsh storms.

References:

Sherratt, T, Griffiths, T & L Robin. 2005. A change in the Weather Climate and Culture in Australia. Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press.

Lecture Week 8..

This week's lecture had a really interesting take on the way we treat sustainability and what it actually is. It really has become a bit of a ridiculous buzz word that people are willing to use without the full weight of its meaning behind it.

To be sustainable, it has to be able to keep going indefinitely, and that's definitely not the type of systems we currently see. Greening isn't always sustainable. It's made me think about making sure I can completely justify the decisions I make about my design.

Important thinks to think about in my design are:

• Embodied energy
• Construction
• Maintenance
• Transport
• Disassembly
• Recyclability

 We build things with the wrong lifespans in mind and with the wrong mindset to begin with. 

This pretty accurately represents the path things can take. Designing sustainably is hard, it's a huge challenge but I want to try and find ways to achieve it.

I really liked the idea of how ephemeral and adaptable architecture can be without even expecting it. Maybe I don't need to over-design the systems and places where people live, maybe it develops in a much more organic way.

A whole new community approach needed..

This presentation by Pam Warhurst reminded me to come back to the fact that the food production within my new Woodfordia needs to be about a whole new paradigm of food production and lifestyle. It can't just be the same lifestyles with slightly different farming techniques.

The food needs to be everywhere, not just in certain plots that I think on the map will work best for growing food, around houses, backyard gardens and everywhere.

Everyone in the community plays a part in the 'puzzle' as she called it, they're all pieces that fit together in their own way to complete the puzzle. Whether it is in growing, teaching, cooking or some other role it doesn't mean everyone does or knows everything or the same thing. I need to think further about this 'first person experience' and the 'characters' in my future. They need to be completely submerged in the lifestyle of farming, creating streets that are lined with gardens and agriculture rather than centralised systems.

On top of this she reiterated the point that I already felt was the most important, and that is the impact an importance of education in this paradigm shift. My new community is about education and changing our ways and it's also about spreading this knowledge base on, spreading it into the urban area, not just when replanting these new communities.

Sustainable farming..

In trying to work out how to actually farm sustainably and more efficiently i've come across some really effective diagrams looking into integrated farming systems and working towards a closed loop system which is what i'd love to be able to succeed with in my proposal.


In trying to find more sustainable farming techniques, I looked into the idea of integrated and polyculture systems we had talked about.
 

(Preston 1995)

This document listed all kinds of techniques as to exactly how some of these sytems can be impolemtned, looking at how every part of the system can work together easily.

"Sustainable use of natural renewable resources will be facilitated when the feed is grown, the animals are fed and the excreta is recycled on the farm in ways that minimize the use of imported inputs including energy. Integrated farming systems that embody these concepts are seen in many parts of SE Asia and have developed in response to increasing human pressure on land resources " (Preston 1995)

This seems like the best direction to go in and solves my problem of climate refugee influenced systems along with finding efficient farming to use. This is as close as I might be able to get to a closed loop system.


Polyculture seems to be the only and obvious way to go.

"Plants, like people, have tastes and requirements for certain nutrients as well as differing root depths; a diverse group, by definition, can make better use of the soil conditions in a place than a single species can." (Fears 2008)

This article is really interesting and makes such a strong argument to all the benefits of polyculture farming such as:

• maintaining topsoil
• increased soil nutrients
• greater farming yield

Also interesting to consider is the point that

"Inclusion of fauna and the diversity of plant species makes such a “farm” far less of a target for pests and improves its ability to weather disease." (Fears 2008)

 It really makes me wonder why we're not doing it already.


Aquaponics

 

http://www.suburbanfarmer.com.au/fish-farms/fishcycle.jpg

The polycultre farming article also touched on the possibility of aquaponics and fish farming which I think is a great idea.

There are even success sotries of rice farming in Queensland, so what's to say that I couldn't have that at Woodfordia too? A site that teaches every type of farming.

This article talks about rice farming in conjunction with a refugee program for Japanese peole affected by nuclear disaster and need respite and relief. It has a really interesting correlation to my site with climate refugees and essentially replanting them into Australia using their own farming techniques.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2012/s3511309.htm



 

References:

Fears, S. 2008. Monoculture vs. Polyculture Farming Methods. Accessed September 8, 2012. http://true-progress.com/monoculture-vs-polyculture-farming-methods-84.htm .

 Preston, T.R. 1995. Tropical Animal Feeding. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations: Rome. Accessed September 8, 2012. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/v9327e/V9327E07.htm#ch7.

Problems with farming and farmland..

I really feel that the food side of things is the most important part of my assignment to get right, I'm designing a community in its entirety more than just trying to work out a building in it.

My main focus on this assignment is beginning with the farming side of everything, I feel like that's got to be the foundation of a successful, self-sustaining community. Many of our farming techniques currently don't take into consideration what they're doing to the land or how they should best use the land and we're destroying our arable land.

I want to research into farming techniques and have farming and self sustenance at the heart of my proposal and my community.


Campbell, A. 1991. Sustainable Farming. Melbourne: Lothian Publishing Company Pty Ltd.

• More than half of all cropping and grazing lands require treatment for erosion, salting, soil acidity or soil structure decline
• Many of the waterways and wetlands on this dry continent have become contaminated by soil run -off and algal blooms caused by fertilisers, pesticides and heavy metals
• Most irrigation areas are being flooded from beneath by rising saline groundwater, due to clearing, profligate water use and nonexistent or inadequate drainage

This idea of soil conservation and land rejuvenation is really important to me and necessary to keep the site going. There are places around Woodford that have acidic soil so I want to find a way, as part of the program too, to work through regenerating and sustaining agricultural land in the true sense of the word.

Campbell suggests indicators and main points of keeping farming sustainable:

• Soil structure
• Soil fertility
• Energy Use
• Water and nutrient budgets
• Economic and ecological diversity and stability
• Social cohesion

 It's about implementing a farming plan but to do that and to dramatically change the system into being sustainable it's obvious that we'll need something new and different.

With techniques for soil maintenance such as:

• 'Shelter Belts' separating fields
• Native vegetation
• Restorative planting
• Fire mitigation through native planting and barriers
• Homogenous land divisions based on soil types, natural features, drainage and current vegetation

I should research further into the farming techniques that the climate refugees will bring in as they immigrate to Australia. Especially seeing as our techniques so often fall short. If the new Woodfordia is all about learning, then maybe they are part of the teaching process, not just the learning process.

Climate Change Effects..

This book really helped cement some of the ideas bout sea level rises and climate change impacts.

Book: Roaf, S, Crichton, D & F, Nicol. 2009. Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change. 2nd ed. Oxford: Architectural Press

From 2055 to 2025..

If I have to bring it back to 2025, there will still be some climate refugees and issues. I've drawn up a bit of a condensed time line from the one in project 1 to understand how this future looks.

Tutorial Week 7..

After talking to Steph in this tutorial we all began to try and define our direction and think about the lifestyles and activities of future Woodfordia to get us thinking about our architecture within it.

• Ground the scenario within the site: how do people live there, what do we design from there
• Masterplanning the site
• Believability of what happens

Thinking about refining our future from project 1, I definitely want to continue to look at how the climate changes are effecting the world and how the climate refugees would impact Woodfordia. Drawing the future back from 2050 won't necessarily limit these disruptions as the world is already looking at climate refugees existing ie Tuvalu & Bangladesh both being so low-lying that they'll easily be effected.

With climate refugees and their impact, thinks that I need to think about are:

• Importing culture
• Importing farming skills & techniques

Thinking about designing Woodfordia as a learning centre I will need to consider:

• How it leads the nation
• Structure of the site
• Am I housing only refugees? How should they live?
• How big is the festival? Will it take up arable land?
• What spaces will the users need

I need to look into farming and consider:

• Intensive market gardens
• Farmers that were displaced and are now climate refugees
• How are we feeding ourselves as a nation? What are we eating and how are we farming it?
• Broadacre VS polyculture
• Integrated systems
• Water & storm systems - swales, wetlands, water storage

Lecture week 7..

Today's lecture presented assignment 2 and what is expected for our final delivery of the last ever design assignment. It's all pretty daunting for me and I'm a little bit worried about how ambiguous the criteria are.

Once again it's all about the 'story' we present and how we can fit an architectural entity into a context, which I think is a really cool idea, it's all about being visual about it, which is basically what architecture is anyway.

Yasu has told us he wants the future scenario to be set in 2025 though not the 2050's as we'd originally projected so that's a bit worrying at first. Looking at how we're going to respond to technology and the future in the next 10-15 years. It's not really the angle I was thinking I'd approach this from, from the first assignment for me it was more about the community and the resilience and not the whiz bang gadgets that we'll have in the future.

The 'Convenience Store' video he showed us was interesting but strange, it went down that path of strange future gadgets that might be sold but the whole pattern of the convenience store hadn't really changed, which I don't find very realistic. I think I'll stick with all my climate and community based stuff at Woodford anyway.



Presenting:
Script = "the plot" - giving a visual story and context to my scenario
                              - developing a realistic story
                              - refining the context of project 1, being unique and imaginative
                              - having a well rounded future where all aspects are covered
Stage = "the architecture" - responding to the needs of the citizens in my scenario
                              - solving problems of the future
                              - access and use of the building
                              - what draws people there
                              - understanding of sustainability & construction
Scenes = "value & relevance" - showing physical and psychological context
                              - identification & connection with community
                              - first person experience
                              - private and personal scales of interior