Durable Housing Competition
Design: Patrick O'Carrigan + Ivana Simkovic
Architects
Mia MiaThe Shield House
Resilient Living for Australia
Design Description:
CCAD strategies dictated a striking and unconventionaldwelling that is conducive to modern living, compliant with BCA standards, withbuilt-in durability and resilience to enable it to bounce back from extremeevents such as floods, bushfire and storm/wind events. Given that wind gustsare a major feature of both wet events [storms/hail] and dry events [windstorms/bushfire], the Shield House has deliberately iconic – its shielding curvedcorrugated form is the outer layer [ the drizabone] that cloaks a sealed container that shouts down- without the needfor power- in the face of a forecast major event.
The aim of this project was to design an environmentallysustainable, detached, 3 bedroom town/urban house on a long narrow steeplysloping site of 220 sqm. The design features a wet zone at grade and a dry zoneabove within which there is located a safe room for survival refuge. Optimallyorientated with restrictions to avoid flood inundation equivalent to 50 ARI,the house is two-storied above a single garage/carport with access stairs. Likea traditional Queenslander, the primary living, dining and kitchen is elevated atthe first floor with encircling decks – open and sheltered under the curvedwing. At the second floor 3 bedrooms, bathroom and a safe room are incorporatedwithin a rigid tensile frame that is anchored to the topography.
Construction Techniques: Risk averse design strategies: best praxis
CCAD strategies dictated a striking and unconventionaldwelling that is conducive to modern living, compliant with BCA standards, withbuilt-in durability and resilience to enable it to bounce back from extremeevents such as floods, bushfire and storm/wind events. Given that wind gustsare a major feature of both wet events [storms/hail] and dry events [windstorms/bushfire], the Shield House has deliberately iconic – its shielding curvedcorrugated form is the outer layer [ the drizabone] that cloaks a sealed container that shouts down- without the needfor power- in the face of a forecast major event.
The aim of this project was to design an environmentallysustainable, detached, 3 bedroom town/urban house on a long narrow steeplysloping site of 220 sqm. The design features a wet zone at grade and a dry zoneabove within which there is located a safe room for survival refuge. Optimallyorientated with restrictions to avoid flood inundation equivalent to 50 ARI,the house is two-storied above a single garage/carport with access stairs. Likea traditional Queenslander, the primary living, dining and kitchen is elevated atthe first floor with encircling decks – open and sheltered under the curvedwing. At the second floor 3 bedrooms, bathroom and a safe room are incorporatedwithin a rigid tensile frame that is anchored to the topography.
Construction Techniques: Risk averse design strategies: best praxis
