Peter Stutchbury – Gold Medal talk in review

Firmly placed in the tradition of climate responsive design, the 2015 Gold medallist, Peter Stutchbury, is approaching the end of an almost sold out tour of the Australian capital cities. Like Glenn Murcutt, Stutchbury is a keen observer of plants, climate and site.

‘You wouldn’t camp in a place susceptible to drainage problems’. He describes the form of the desert plants and the honesty of the PNG log houses. Stutchbury camps out on the site of a project to study its micro-climate firsthand, ultimately informing his design response.

Observations of the Mt. Albert micro-climate informed the natural ventilation response for the Deepwater Woolshed – a shearing shed designed to provide a thermally comfortable range for its occupants to work in, replacing the old hot shed that was not working. ‘Architecture is about comfort’.

A connection to nature is a common theme explored throughout the projects, demonstrated in reflections of the sky in strategically placed pools of water and the extension of spatial functions such as the kitchen and dining areas to the outside, thereby reducing the floor area and material usage of the projects. In other projects, the site itself becomes a component of the built form – such as the building into a cliff face providing integral thermal mass for a NSW home.

An anecdote of a Newcastle University project highlighted the need for the ongoing education of building users when natural ventilation systems are implemented as a design strategy. Stutchbury related how the university approached him with a plan to retrospectively introduce air-conditioning to a building designed by his practice. On visiting the building, Stutchbury demonstrated the operation of some high louvres that had otherwise been shut in place unused, thereby circumventing the intended natural ventilation strategy. The need to install air-conditioning was subsequently abandoned through the correct operational use of this feature.

Peter Stutchbury’s final Gold Medal talk will be held in Sydney on Thursday 19 November 6:00pm, details here.

For those who were unable to attend the talk, a link to the Melbourne talk can be found here

Whilst we may not all have the privilege (or dedication!) to camp out on a potential project site, we can refresh and equip our knowledge. This free climate design wizard http://www.designingforclimate.com.au/ helps you design ecologically sustainable buildings for the unique climatic conditions of specific locations across Australia. The following EDG notes pick up on some of the themes explored by Stutchbury in his 2015 gold medal talk:

• EDG 67 CM ‘The Climate-Adaptive Vernacular Architecture of Asia-Pacific’ by Carol Marra
  ‘Architecture must be suited to its environment, just as much as to its cultural, technological and economic context’. Lessons in climate adaptive vernacular architecture in Vigan City, the Philippines; Fujian, China; and Central Japan, are explored for application to contemporary architecture.
• EDG 70 ‘Glossary of Environmentally Sustainable Design’
  Excerpt on trombe wall: a vertical wall built of a heavy mass material, separated from the external environment by a glass wall and an air space; heat absorbed by the wall is conducted into the internal space; the warm air between the mass wall and the glass can be directed into the internal space or vented externally as required.
• EDG 80 RA ‘Natural Ventilation in Passive Design’ by Richard Aynsley
  Explores the roles and use of natural ventilation in buildings, including rules of thumb. Examines how the climate applicability of natural ventilation should be considered alongside the site’s physical features.

Access to these notes is available through your EDG subscription (including A+ members of the Institute) or for purchase as individual notes, please download the order form here.