The About Face 2010 entries are now online for peer review.

The About Face Award is Think Brick Australia’s invitation-only design ideas competition intended to encourage innovative Australian architects to push the boundaries of traditional brick design and present original ways of using brick in a contemporary environment.

Six leading architects have designed a residential property that challenges the notion of the ‘project home’ and how we might shift the paradigm of how we live today, while emphasizing the artistic, environmental and versatile capacity of clay brick use.

View their submissions and (architects) please vote for the entry you believe best answers the brief at www.aboutfaceawards.com.au

While you’re there, check out the student award – faculty winners entries.  Each year, the calibre of student entries into the award continues to astound the jury – so this year, to acknowledge the huge commitment given to our programme by the participating universities and students, we’d like to congratulate the leading entries from each university, in the build up to the overall winner announcements in October.  Check out their full submissions and show your encouragement for their entries.

A pixel makes a big statement in Victoria.

Green Building Council of Australia CEO Romily Madew argues this could be Australia’s most sustainable commercial building…

Do you agree?

For people, groups and companies that are serious about reducing emissions or being carbon neutral, the question of off-sets can be polarising: some people see off-sets as ‘not genuine’ emissions reductions and that they should only be used after all other efforts are exhausted to reduce emissions first. On the other side, they are seen as a quick and easy way to atone for the “emission-sins” of the group.

The City of Sydney last night debated investing the $2 million a year it spent on GreenPower off-sets into renewable energy systems for its own buildings and operations. What makes this decision interesting is that the primary driver was probably that the $2 million for emissions was too expensive. Therefore, and like all expensive line items in a budget, the City of Sydney was forced to consider better ways to use the money. In this instance, I’m assuming they think investing in their own renewable energy systems will now be cheaper because they have (in parallel) reduced their emissions below are certain point.

Ultimately this is the intention of an emissions trading scheme, yet in the absence of one, my view is that off-sets make sense for a company that is serious about reducing its emissions: without this additional cost (and commitment), no drivers exist to go above and beyond the issue of energy/emissions efficiency.

The new Masonry Standard (AS 3700) has been drafted and is open until July 6 for public comment. Click on the link below to see the draft standard.

> AS 3700 Masonry Structures

Jade 909, the 9 star carbon neutral home built in partnership between Right Homes, Jade Projects and Think Brick Australia has won the HIA WA GreenSmart Home of the Year, Partnership and Water Efficiency awards. The house will now be judged against all other state winners at the National Awards to be held later this year.

Think Brick Australia has been very active in energy efficiency and life cycle analysis research for over 10 years and for its submission to the Prime Minister’s Task Group on Energy Efficiency, it decided to provide a brief, ‘lessons learned’ overview specifically discussing three areas:

1. thermal modelling software
2. the life cycle analysis methodology
3. eco-labelling

> Lessons learned from life cycle analysis research

I’m going to be controversial: refurbish the outside of Hamer Hall all you like, but don’t touch the internal acoustics!

A few months ago I saw Branford Marsalis play here and was absolutely astounded: the acoustics were so good even the Branford and his band couldn’t stop giggling and commenting on them. I’m all for development, re-development and refurbishment – and in all honesty the external façade and foyer of the Hamer Hall could do with a face lift – but why fix what isn’t broken and risk losing the central defining thing that will keep people – and artists – coming back??

The Australian Building Codes Board has released new standards for bushfire shelters. Since the 2009 Victorian bushfires there has been considerable interest in ‘bunkers’ to protect home owners from the extreme heat of passing fires, and while the idea seems obvious, extreme caution is required in the construction of shelters because the shelter itself can prove very hazardous if not built correctly. Among the potential hazards are running out of oxygen.

The standard is based on available technical data, the input and judgment of a multi-disciplined expert reference group and consultation with a range of stakeholders, and according to the Board, “The development of this Standard proved to be complex primarily because we could find no similar standards available internationally. We appear to have effectively created the world’s first standard for private bushfire shelters”.

> View the new bushfire shelter standard

Recently the American Institute of Architects and its Committee on the Environment announced the 10 best green buildings completed in the past year.

What would be Australia’s top 10 greenest buildings? Are we matching it for the Americans? Ahead of them? or do we still have a long way to go?

Last week Mirvac won the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability award for the built environment with its 9 star demonstration home, Harmony 9, and was up against the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre which was the first convention centre to be awarded a ‘6 Star Green Star’ environmental rating by the Green Building Council of Australia. Having been shown all the features of both of these buildings I would argue that Australia is matching the Americans for sustainable design and construction.

The 2009 State of Supply Report from the National Housing Supply Council was released yesterday (27/4/10) by the Minister for Housing Tanya Plibersek. The report is the 2nd of its kind and aims to determine forward housing demand and supply over 20 years and assess the adequacy of construction and land supply to meet those projections.

This work is vitally important because an adequate supply of houses is a key ingredient in the provision of affordable housing. The report, once again predicts a shortfall in supply to meet projected demand, and also notes that “there is still widespread resistance to the view that past patterns of construction and urban development are unsustainable”.

Among the headline statistics in the report:

• 3.2 million new dwellings will be required over the next 20 years, up from 3.1 million projected in the 2008 report (this requires an annual average build of approximately 160,000)
• 21% of the growth will be in Brisbane & South-East Qld, 19% in Melbourne, 16% in Sydney & 10% in Brisbane
• States & Territories expect two-thirds of the growth in captials to come from in-fill, however, to date only 30% of completions have been in flats, apartments or townhouses (the forms of construction most associated with in-fill development)
• States & Territories predict new dwelling construction for 09/10 and 10/11 to be approximately 176,000 (gross) per annum
• Despite this, the gap in dwellings estimated at 30 June 2009 is 78,000, with a cumulative shortfall of 178,400 (recognising shortfall over previous years); this is higher than the 2008 projections
• Over five years to 2014 the gap is estimated to grow to 308,000 and potentially 640,600 by 2029.

All of these statistics don’t paint a pretty picture, and perhaps of most concern is the States and Territories view that two-thirds of dwellings will come from in-fill. Although there are obvious advantages to this form of construction, this is still the most expensive form of construction with long lead times and delays caused by local planning policies and NIMBYism  (Not In My Back Yard).

> 2010 State of Supply Report