[+] Three Big Ideas to Disrupt the Built Environment

The best way to predict the future is to design it. Geodesic dome inventor, architect and futurist Richard Buckminster Fuller, who coined the phrase, was no stranger to breaking the mould for a better outcome. And it’s an idea that multidisciplinary teams of developers, designers, architects and consultants have leaned into to conceive out-of-the-box ideas to disrupt and create change in the built environment. A New Normal has spread its wings from its Melbourne home turf to take on the Harbour City’s transformation into a thriving and sustainable Sydney, according to Jess Miller. The former deputy lord mayor of City of Sydney has teamed up with Finding Infinity to spearhead A New Normal, Sydney. But Miller says it’s not just a think tank, it’s also a do tank. “In New South Wales we’re awesome at doing vision and feasibility, but not so good at implementation,” Miller says. The program has attracted high-profile industry players including Goodman, CBUS, Grimshaw, Mulpha, BVN and SJB to collaborate on solutions to 14 key areas including renewable energy generation and storage, retrofitting buildings for efficiency, circular economy and urban cooling. From inception through to delivering a prototype at Sydney’s Vivid Festival, the groups are tasked with developing a temporary model through to a full-scale solution that is scalable and replicable. ▲ It ’ s not a think tank, it ’ s a do tank, according to Jess Miller of A New Normal, Sydney, which has a focus on developing prototypes and market adoption. Miller says A New Normal, Sydney will take over space at the Powerhouse Museum as part of Sydney’s Vivid Festival to showcase a number of working prototypes. Here are some of the big ideas that could disrupt the built environment. ‘Meanwhile use’ office conversion Australia’s older stranded office assets could have a new “meanwhile use” as residential with a little bit of blue sky thinking from Other Architects and Goodman. The team has collaborated on what Other Architects director David Neustein describes as “loose fit” design to reimagine a deep office floor plate as a community with a collective backyard. “It’s taking advantage of the now, and trying to extend the life of that structure that’s already there,” Neustein says. Neustein says the “profound change” in the office building landscape during the pandemic has led to the rethink around the design and use of commercial buildings. “Our starting premise for looking at converting office buildings into housing is that there is this large stock of sort of B to D-grade office space out there, which a lot of is currently empty, could have a meanwhile use as housing,” Neustein says. “The fact that those buildings were designed around a paradigm and a particular set of requirements relating to the technology of offices and the way we use spaces, it’s shifted.” &ldquo;And we are excited about the possibility that taking on what&rsquo;s this kind of unloved commercial stock might make things a bit more flexible and accommodate different types of people in different and less confining ways.&rdquo; --> The Goodman-Other Architects team used a Goodman asset at Macquarie Park as the template for design. The concept was to create a design that was malleable and easily undone should a building need to be converted back to office uses. ▲ Goodman’s Kori Todd was part of the team looking to create a loose-fit design for commercial to residential adaptive reuse. The deep floorplates of the office building presented challenges in terms of daylight access and dead space but some innovative thinking around movable walls and collective backyards helped to overcome design problems. Goodman head of design Kori Todd says you have to be selective with which buildings you choose for adaptive reuse. “The problem that we’re obviously running through is the efficiency in the floor plates. They’re deeper and darker as far as residential’s concerned, which is great for office space but not great for residential,” Todd says. “What we would like to achieve doing this through the New Normal is to bring attention to the idea because it’s proven to be achievable in other countries and can be in Australia as well. “We think it is good to highlight the possibility. It would be a completely new sector that’s not under the current residential SEPP and would require planning changes in order to make it feasible.” Todd says creating a commercial residential adaptive reuse prototype will help to show its viability and with planning and design changes it could be a more appealing prospect for developers. Heliotropic design for cooler cities In Sydney’s west, temperatures at street level can hit 60 degrees. Urban cooling is a big issue as climate data points to hotter summers and a growing heat island effect. Sweltering Cities is mapping bus stops across Sydney, many of which offer no shelter or seating for the 2.7 million people waiting for a bus each year. Bus shelters are a simple and practical way to increase access to renewably powered transport and make Sydney safer in the heat. ▲ The design of the bus shelter was informed by the heliotropic nature of a sunflower, which could provide sun shading throughout the day. This was the starting point for SJB, Sweltering Cities, and The Open Arms to innovate for a better built form solution for commuters. The Open Arms’ Jess Lilley says the project focused on Western Sydney, which experiences extreme heat, and where about 70 per cent of its bus stops did not provide shelter or shading. “We gave ourselves a brief to make sure that we were grounded in reality, and from a design point of view that this was actually something that could be implemented and was cost-effective for councils,” Lilley says. “And also the design did what it was supposed to do to meet the needs of [commuters]. “It is just amazing to see how much had been done and achieved in terms of the thinking in such a short time, you know things that would normally take months on a project or years.” SJB’s Stefanie Hughes says the heliotropic design addresses the shortcomings of the current standard design of bus shelters. “Those that do have shelters, it’s a kind of rectilinear structure oriented to the street and doesn’t take into account the orientation of the sun,” Hughes says. “It might offer some rain protection but actually it’s hindering your view potentially of the bus coming and it’s not providing any sun protection at all and especially not at the peak time. So nobody ever sits on those benches, you know, you’d rather crouch behind the bus stop. “So it was about how do you create a shade structure that is actually going to shade the bench so you can sit on the bench at all times.” Hughes says they initially thought of a cheap sun umbrella that you can rotate and block the sun, and then imagining if that was automated like a sunflower tracks the sun. The design takes on a petal form with a solar powered roof that angles the roof to ensure shade and shelter. The solar panel also powers a smart ‘stem’—with lighting, timetable information and an alert to let commuters know when a bus is approaching. The rotating leaf on the stem of the bus stop enables commuters to move the seating to the best position. The petal’s base is an optional water tank floor that anchors it into the ground and holds rainwater funnelled directly into the stem via the roof. It would be used to trickle feed water into the ground around the bus stop to encourage greenery next to it and further help cool the earth. Public infrastructure for renewable power It’s all about making our rooftops productive. Solar architecture is crucial to cities becoming energy producers and maximising solar infrastructure within cities reduces the need for new grid scale infrastructure. ▲ Community infrastructure would be retrofitted with solar arrays to capitalise on under-utilised roof spaces to power local high-density residential communities. Lucy Humphrey has teamed up with Solar Citizens and engineering firm GHD to design a structure that generates, stores and distributes energy to people living in a high-density, mixed-use apartment-block precinct at Wolli Creek. The solar pavilion structure integrates a solar array on the rooftop of a community building that would provide access to urban renewable energy generation opportunities and storage for people living in apartment communities. The concept explores how technology can be better integrated into strata and community energy models to allow low-cost renewable energy to be accessed by people who don’t have the option to buy solar panels and batteries because they rent. The design group wants to maximise solar panel uptake on under-utilised industrial building roofs, with the opportunity to export to surrounding residential buildings. Solar Citizens is working with Wolli Creek residents to access affordable renewable energy solutions and reduce the cost of bills. About 15 per cent of Australians live in strata-titled properties such as apartments and townhouses, a number that is forecast to increase significantly as the population grows. Harnessing public infrastructure could help to unlock renewable energy for renters and apartment dwellers in Greater Sydney. You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Three Big Ideas to Disrupt the Built Environment

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