The People Behind the Wizard

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WIZARD

Working with a group of architects, designers and researchers, Think Brick Australia has developed the Climate Design Wizard.

Think Brick Australia would like to thank and acknowledge the input of a key group of people whose knowledge, experience and insight into designing buildings for the Australian climate, helped create this incredibly powerful tool.

Tone Wheeler

Tone Wheeler is an architect, author, educator and consultant with an abiding interest in environmental architecture and sustainable design.

Tone founded the architectural practice Environa Studio 25 years ago and has designed individual and multiple housing projects, commercial buildings and urban design schemes, all with a strong emphasis on social and environmental concerns.
 
He has won numerous awards and competitions and is a member and former chair of the AIA National Sustainability Committee. Tone is a frequent speaker at architectural conferences and seminars, has been a faculty member of 3 universities and has been a judge on "the New Inventors" program on ABC Television. He is also on the NSW Building Professionals Board and the Board of ABSA (Association of Building Sustainability Assessors).

Ross Maher

Ross is Think Brick Australia's Sustainability Manager and Policy Adviser and has worked specifically on sustainability and climate change policy for the past five years. He has a strong interest in how homes and communities will operate beyond the year 2020. He fundamentally believes we need to change the way we produce and use energy - current methods are inefficient and not in line with 21st century aspirations of the Australian and global economy.

Ross is the author of Think Brick Australia's report "Wasting Energy" which outlines how despite the introduction of an emissions trading scheme and higher star-rated houses, the Building Code of Australia is an impediment to efficient houses. This is because it does not foster good design outcomes based on solar passive design.

Ross believes Designing For Climate forms an integral part of overcoming the limitations of the Building Code of Australia and ensuring homes and communities are sustainable beyond 2020. Even if all future homes are powered by renewable energy, unless the fundamentals of climate design have been "built in", they will remain inefficient and unsustainable. as long as they are not designed for their climate, they will continue to waste energy and resources which could be used elsewhere.

Dick Clarke

Dick Clarke, principal of Envirotecture, is an Accredited Building Designer with over 30 years experience, focusing exclusively on ecologically sustainable and culturally appropriate buildings and has received many Design Awards.

He holds a Master's Degree by Research (Institute of Sustainable Futures, UTS), for research into the effects of state and local planning instruments on the sustainability of the built environment. He holds a Building Designer Accreditation (No. 6029) under the Building Designer Accreditation (NSW) scheme.

He is an ACF Climate Change Volunteer presenter of Australia's Inconvenient Truth, having trained with Al Gore in November of 2006.

Assessors

(ABSA), and continues to work with ABSA and deliver some of its training material.

He sat on the Industry Liaison Committee of the Australian Greenhouse Office's highly acclaimed "Your Home" design guide, as well as authoring, editing and consulting on some of its content. He continues to be involved with various government and non-government bodies on environmental issues and the built environment. He currently represents the BDA on the NatHERS-AccuRate upgrade (Technical Advisory) committee, and on the BASIX Reference Group. He has presented many seminars and workshops on sustainable design and correct building practice.

Dick Clarke held a builder's license from 1979 until 2004, and currently holds a Qualified Supervisor's Certificate.

Cathy Inglis
 
Cathy Inglis joined Austral Bricks 14 years ago as the Technical and Mining Manager and currently holds the position of Group Technical and Engineering Manager for Brickworks and its companies which include Austral Bricks, Bristile Roofing and Eureka Tiles.  She is nationally responsible for research and development of new products, technical matters and sustainability including energy & carbon reporting.  Cathy is the Technical Advisor to Think Brick Australia.

Cathy has completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Materials Science and a Master of Science from the University of Technology, Sydney.  Previously Cathy was an Associate Lecturer at the University of Technology for students in Construction Management, Mechanical, Civil and Electrical Engineering as well as Materials Science.

She is Chair of the Think Brick Australia National Technical Committee, and represents the brick industry on several Australian Standard Committees, as well as being on the Advisory Board of the Thermal Research Group at Newcastle University. Cathy is Chair of the NSW HIA Technical Committee, and is President of the NSW Branch of the Australian Ceramic Society.

Cathy's belief is that energy efficient housing is all about climate responsive design.  This provided the motivation that led her to instigate the thermal performance research at Newcastle University 8 years ago.  This research is world leading and provides real data on the thermal performance of typical Australian housing in Australian climatic conditions.  

Brent Marvin

Brent Marvin has been an Architect for 15 years with special expertise in the areas of ESD, Aged Care, and Hospitality. His design philosophy involves creating special design solutions that perform well in all aspects and are good value and prides himself on having lots of satisfied clients.

Some of his major professional achievements are: Brent was Project Architect for Hamilton Associates (London) managing projects such as office parks and shopping centres up to 25 million pounds at 25. He was headhunted to run a design and build company in Auckland at the age of 26. At 28, Brent became a co-director of an established architecture company in Sydney which has now grown to three offices completing projects in value of up to 250m construction cost in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Projects Brent has been involved in include: Northern Suburbs Condolence and Admin Building, AGC Pavillion, Fairs Avenue Duplex, Pather House, Kingsway Aged Care.

Brent feels climate design is important because he believes that global warming is damaging the planet and is aware that the construction industry is a major contributor to the problem. He sees designing for the correct climate as a way to make buildings that are naturally efficient and reduce the need for carbon releasing processes.

Brent believes the Climate Design Wizard will allow designers to gain a greater understanding of the climate they are designing for and allow more efficient buildings.

Anir Kumar Upadhyay

Anir is a trained architect and urban planner and has been working in the building industry since 2000. He has a keen interest in energy efficient building design and planning and is an accredited assessor from ABSA for house energy ratings. Anir is currently a PhD candidate in sustainable design at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at the University of Sydney. He has taught undergraduate students of architecture at the Tribhuvan University, Nepal and the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Anir believes in designing with climate and the use of local materials in buildings. Energy efficient building design should respond to the local climate. Natural energies such as sun and wind can reduce heating and cooling loads significantly. He has been involved in climate design research for Think Brick Australia and has presented research findings at various international conferences.

Climate was always a major factor in building design in the past. However, with the advance of modern technology and climate modifying techniques, designers have opted for mechanical appliances instead of using natural energies in building design, thus isolating buildings from their environment.

In the new millennium, people have become more concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and are interested in efficient use of energy. This environmental consciousness has also encouraged designers to make climate responsive designs that utilise natural energies, such as sun and wind, to maintain a comfortable living environment.

Anir believes that climatic data has too often been presented in too technical a manner, which has made it difficult for designers to assess and use the data in building design. He sees the Climate Design Wizard as a resource that will help building professionals and home owners alike to understand their local climate. The Wizard presents climatic data in an easily understandable and accessible graphic form and this will result in more designers incorporating climatic elements in their designs. This can only help reduce the heating and cooling loads needed to maintain thermally comfortable conditions in buildings.

Linda Ginger

Linda has 12 years experience in the Building & Construction industry and 3.5 years in the brick industry. She joined The Clay Brick and Paver Institute in early 2006, from James Hardie's Building Products Division where she was General Manager, Brand Communications for Australia and New Zealand. Linda is responsible for marketing and advocacy on behalf of the nation's largest brick manufacturers through Think Brick Australia - the industry's new brand, which she was instrumental in developing.

Linda's area of expertise is marketing and her design philosophy is "Think simple, think smart". Her major professional achievements include Brand and communications strategy development for the Clay Brick & Paver Institute, creation and launch of an Architectural awards program, Facing Design magazine, and setting up an interactive marketing platform and associated programs.

Linda believes that man's attempt to conquer the harsh climatic elements by relying on artificial heating and cooling has had catastrophic consequences for our environment. Knowing all about a particular climate allows for the use of the climatic elements (sun, wind and rain) in building design to achieve natural thermal comfort sustainably and with a better environmental outcome.

She sees designing for climate as a simple, first step for people wanting to renovate or build a naturally comfortable, environmentally conscious home and the Climate Design Wizard as a resource that will spread the benefits of  this kind of design.  It also shows that that just because a home is environmentally conscious, it doesn't have to compromise on looks or adversely affect one's wallet.