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#ElementalDesign Advice 08 SITE ORIENTATION
#ElementalDesign Advice 08 SITE ORIENTATION “Understand the sun’s movement across your site throughout the day/year, and design to take advantage of it.” – Talina Edwards What does orientation really mean and why is it important? This is really all about the sun’s movement across your site (and the shade), and needs to be assessed for different times…
10 ways to keep cool this summer (without air-conditioning)
After a long, wet and cold Winter, we are finally embracing Summer! We’ve been craving the warmer weather, however we’re now faced with trying to stay comfortable during the heat…ahh the joys of living in a temperate climate! There are ways to keep you and your home cooler, without immediately installing energy-guzzling air-conditioning. ‘Why wouldn’t…
#ElementalDesign Advice 07 PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN
#ElementalDesign Advice 07 PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN “Ensure your home design responds to your climate to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home.” – Talina Edwards What are Passive Solar Design principles and why should we care? When it comes to designing a building, it just makes good sense to employ these principles as the fundamental essentials…
“Taking Stock” (time for some reflection)
Hi there! It is time for a quick interlude between my new blog series of #ElementalDesign Advice posts. So if you’re interested in learning a bit more about me (and my quirks!), please read on. Otherwise we will return to normal broadcasting again soon!
#ElementalDesign Advice 06 DESIGN FOR COMFORT
#ElementalDesign Advice 06 DESIGN FOR COMFORT “We like 21 degrees Celsius to be comfortable – design your home to achieve this all year” – Talina Edwards Air, Water, Food, and Shelter are said to be the basic elements that humans need for survival. However when it comes to shelter, we’re no longer satisfied with a bark hut or…
#ElementalDesign Advice 05 DESIGN FOR CLIMATE
#ElementalDesign Advice 05 DESIGN FOR CLIMATE “Ensure your home is designed for your local climate, throughout the seasons and into the future.” – Talina Edwards Depending on the geography and location of where you are on this planet, you will experience different climates. Theses climates are identified by their temperature (whether they are predominantly hot, mild, cool, cold)…
#ElementalDesign Advice 04 SITE SELECTION
#ElementalDesign Advice 04 SITE SELECTION “When choosing your site, ensure you undertake a holistic site analysis & understand all the opportunities and constraints.” – Talina Edwards You might have a site, it might be your existing home, or you might be on the search for a new one. Whichever the case, it’s really important to gain a…
#ElementalDesign Advice 03 BEFORE YOU START
#ElementalDesign Advice 03 BEFORE YOU START “Have a clear idea of WHY you want to build/extend. Ask what is your biggest dream & your greatest fear.” – Talina Edwards Before you embark on your project, you should always start with ‘why?’. There are no right of wrong answers, but it will be so much easier to set the…
#ElementalDesign Advice 02 TRUE SUSTAINABILITY
#ElementalDesign Advice 02: TRUE SUSTAINABILITY “I love the analogy that for house to be truly sustainable, it should be like a tree” – Talina Edwards I first hard about this idea from Michael Mobbs, in his “Sustainable House” book: “A tree must meet all its needs for food, energy and water where it stands.” (and a…
#ElementalDesign Advice 01 DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY
#ElementalDesign Advice 01 DEFINING SUSTAINABILITY What does “sustainability” actually means when it comes to design? Buckminster Fuller (Architect and Theorist) defined sustainability as: “the conscious design of our total environment, in order to help make the Earth’s finite resources meet the needs of all of humanity without disrupting the ecological processes of the planet”. In recent…
Sustainable House Day 2016 in Ballarat
Sustainable House Day 2016 comes to Ballarat! (And it’s just a few weeks away!) This year it is on Sunday 11th September, with a large list of houses all over the country available for you to visit and be inspired. The full list of houses is still being updated, so keep an eye on…
Inspiring Ballarat Women Leaders (Parlour Instagram Guest-Host Series)
This post is part of my #Ballarat series of guest posts for Archi Parlour on instagram. This series is all about Ballarat’s Inspiring young women leaders. Parlour is all about supporting women in architecture, but since there are only a small handful of female architects in Ballarat, I wanted to introduce you to some of my…
Ballarat Contemporary Architecture (Parlour Instagram Guest-Host Series)
This post is part of my #Ballarat series of guest posts for Archi Parlour on instagram. This series is all about Ballarat’s Contemporary Architecture. Our city is more well known for it’s heritage buildings, but there are some great examples of contemporary architecture too… and hopefully many more to come in the future! So I…
Ballarat Heritage Architecture (Parlour Instagram Guest-Host Series)
This post is part of my #Ballarat series of guest posts for Archi Parlour on instagram. This series is all about Ballarat’s Heritage Buildings – as we have a wealth of historic architecture, dating back to the days of the gold rush when the city boomed in the late 1800s. Our city has many beautiful…
Parlour Instagram Guest-Host: Ballarat Series
The Australian Archi Parlour is a fabulous website full of helpful research about women, equity and architecture. PARLOUR: a space to speak – bringing together research, informed opinion and resources; generating debate and discussion; expanding the spaces for women in Australian architecture. Last year I supported their crowdfunding campaign which raised funds for their ongoing research. As part of my ‘reward’ for…
Ephemeral Art Competition – with Fifteen Trees
For those who follow me on instagram (or facebook) you’ll know I’ve been enjoying creating some little nature art images in recent times… These are known as ephemeral art, as the intention is that they are temporary creations in the landscape using natural found objects – often leaves, rocks, twigs, flowers, bark, sand, etc. –…
Ethical is the new black
Is green the new black? Or perhaps ethical is more in fashion? I really think this is more than a passing ‘trend’, and is an ethos that is here to stay. Do you agree?
Your Home Designed Globally, Created and Aligned Locally
I often get asked to explain what I do – even when I say I’m an architect, or that I run my own architectural practice, I still get blank looks, or people want me to explain more. I’ve met some very inspiring women entrepreneurs over the past few years, and many of them have great business advice –…
It’s all about comfort! (2016 South Pacific Passive House Conference Melbourne #SPPHC2016)
I recently wrote this review for the ArchiTeam newsletter ‘Datum’ – the original article appeared here and if you’re wondering ‘What is Passive House?’, you can read more about this in my previous post. It’s all about comfort! (2016 South Pacific Passive House Conference Melbourne #SPPHC2016) Comfort, you say? Not too hot, not…
Three (very tempting!) reasons YOU should come to the Sustainable Living Festival in Ballarat!
Want to live a more a sustainable life? The Smart Living and Building Expo can help you! Well it’s that time of year again! The nation wide Sustainable Living Festival is on once again – including our very own local Ballarat (Buninyong) version – The Smart Building and Living Expo!This is the third…