Research in Domus - kakadu site

This is an interesting house built by Glenn Murcutt. It is the similar condition with Kakadu 's hot, humid tropical climate. In consideration for ventilation needs in the tropical climate, the house is built without glass, but with 8 millimetre openings in the more closed building elements. In addition to this, the degree of openness can be regulated in most of the facade elements by hydraulic jacks, so the house has an extremely “open” construction.

The house rests on low columns and is covered by an uninsulated, roof with broad eaves. Fresh air can also be brought admitted via movable ventilation vents in the roof ridge. The space under the cabinets along the facades is open, yet closed by wire screening, so that all four facades can also be opened to various degrees. The built-in beds are raised enough above the terrain that a person standing outside the house cannot see them. Even the morning sun is prevented from peeping into the beds by large, plywood “blinkers” mounted perpendicular to the facade.

The house is oriented according to compass, and the eaves are precisely broad enough to prevent the facades from being subject to direct solar heating both in winter and summer. The message here is clearly understood, by using “natural” means and solutions the house is able to ventilate itself, providing the architect has offered these possibilities and the proper orientation.

Minima Posters & Model

Sangath 4

Part of our design process:
we had trouble adressing a form of house that was both functional and also related to the site of Kakadu.

Some initial floor plans that our group developed. we liked the idea of using a series of small levels or step downs to help to define the space. This followed through to our final design.

This is a later design, getting closer to our final but not quite there, we had some criticism to our roof structure, the valid point was raised that it's organic, natural curve doesnt conform with out straight, cut edge floor plan.


Our final design had a straight edge saw tooth roof but also incorporated a curve that we thought seemed to tie the whole plan together whilst addressing the issue of wind loads.
We also suggested that the curve would help with ventilation as it could allow air to flow through the building and out.

project_2: minima

These are the four pages of my final presentation. Note: i have not included any text for the blog page.

project_2: minima

The next project was Minima. Once again i had to take into account human dimensions,
generation of space and its geometric aspects, and the relationships between body and object and space. Accomodating for one person, my living capsule had to cater for a shower, toilet, eating, sleeping and study space, and a kitchenette.


This was an early sketch of what i hoped the design would turn out to be. The following image is my final design, propped into a standard city landscape.


In the kitchenette, i included unique gadgetry to enable minimal space used, such as a study space that is attached to a track which allows it to be stored away into the kitchenette benchtop.

project_1: tablinum

This project consisted of designing a sleeping/working enclosure for 1 person within the Waterfront Atrium using only 130 no. 450mm (long) x 225mm (wide) x 150mm (deep) concrete blocks and 1 piece of 2.4m x 1.2m x 12mm piece of structural plywood.

The image to the right is my floorplan, showing the entire atrium, the bottom right hang corner was where i decided to locate my tablinum.

I had to present a plan, two sections and perspective drawings for the waterfront as well as my design of the tablinum. To ensure i am achieving minimal space, i had to explore human and furniture dimensions.

This image depicts an elevation of my tablinum beside a standard human figurine, which assisted me in calculating the necessary space for accomodation.

First Minina poster