ESD Fundamentals: Adaptable & flexible for the future – Chris Bligh, Bligh Graham Architects

To be sustainable, buildings must be adaptable and flexible.

They must meet the current occupants’ needs efficiently and enable rearrangement or repurposing to accommodate future needs with minimal work and material waste.

In today's episode we continue our exploration of the sustainable design fundamentals. We investigate the design of a new house on a standard 600m2 suburban site in Yuggera Country, Samford in subtropical Brisbane. This house contains three different parts; a four bedroom home, a self-contained office and a self-contained secondary dwelling.

Architect Chris Bligh, a director at Bligh Graham Architects, shares the inside story on his Live Work Share project

Today we'll learn:

• ideas for creating a flexible floor plan that can accommodate multiple functions and adapt to changing needs,
• design strategies to optimise cross ventilation and passive cooling, and
• the process for using recycled hardwood from demolition yards.

And loads of other insights and practical information from Chris’, years of experience.

Australian Architects can earn formal CPD hours by listening to these podcasts and completing an online quiz.

MORE INFORMATION

Find everything you need on the Renovation Collaborative website.

www.renovationcollaborative.com.au

• PODCAST Key points summary, timestamps and resource links
• FREE RESOURCES Transcript edited into clear Q&A.
• CPD Australian architects can find more information on CPD, and
• COURSES Eleven easy to read courses demystifying the entire home design and construction process.

KEY POINTS SUMMARY

1. The design brief for the average Australian home is not what it used to be, and it keeps changing.

More people are working from home, children are staying at home longer or they leave only to return with their partners and young children.

There is a serious shortage of smaller affordable housing suitable for couples, young families or single parent families. For anyone looking for a source of income, incorporating secondary accommodation into your house plans can often provide much needed housing options for others and offer additional flexibility for the future.

2. Reducing your building footprint to maximise green space is critical and provides multiple benefits, such as improved access to passive ventilation, areas for productive food gardening and support for nature and natural processes.

3. Ideas to maximise cooling through passive ventilation included providing openings to at least two, if not three sides of every room. Chris used internal courtyards to achieve this. And security solutions that allow the house to remain open and ventilated while locked up.

4. Ideas to control access to sun in winter and shade in summer included retractable awnings over courtyards, using windows with solid infill instead of glass to provide shade and privacy while allowing ventilation, and adding retractable outdoor curtains to...