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MODULAR BUILDING FORMED PART OF A RECENT PRESENTATION ON CLIMATE-CONSCIOUS CONSTRUCTION IN MELBOURNE.
The presentation, by Sir Professor Andy van den Dobbelsteen, PhD MSc TU Delft (Delft University of Technology), AMS Institute, NL Greenlabel, Dutch Green Building Council, was delivered at The Master Builders Association of Victoria (MBAV) industry breakfast on 31 October.
Van den Dobbelsteen outlined the urgency of adapting to temperature rises and other aspects of climate change, with climate adaptive building designed to address extreme weather events. His talk demonstrated how sustainable homes need to embed carbon neutral thinking and a shift to renewable energy. Critically, he noted that modular design offers unique benefits within the context of circular economy thinking, in that it is “mountable, repairable, replaceable and demountable.” His presentation outlined the application of “bio based circular infill modules” as part of the sustainable housing thinking of the future. Food security may require features such as fish farms in homes of the future, while green elements such as the ‘edible terrace’ would be designed to mitigate food security threats. Producing renewable energy would be an important part of the home’s function, he said.
The breakfast also included a panel discussion featuring speakers who shared insights from their award-winning projects:
Rob De Brincat from Atelier Projects, who focuses on the development of new and innovative construction systems, including the delivery of a number of timber projects currently under construction in Melbourne. Atelier won the Master Builders Best Sustainable Project Award in 2018 and has been involved in innovative projects including Nightingale 2 and others using cross-laminated timber panels.
Kate Nason from ARKit – an architect and passionate advocate of high performance buildings. Nason has experience across both multi and single residential projects designed to meet the Passive House Standard and is also a Board Director at the Australian Passive House Association.
Ben Taylor, from Built, who helped to guide the One Malop St project to win the Master Builders Victoria Best Sustainable Project Award for 2019. The project reflects ‘World’s Best Practice’ standards in sustainable construction by achieving a 6-Star GreenStar As Built rating as well as a WELL Platinum rating.■
