Weaving Wall House
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Weaving Wall House
Past years Melbourne suburbs have experienced rapid urbanization which increases economic and environmental issues. Social isolation and social disorganization have become big problems in current society. The cost of living increase forces people to live in low quality residence. Migrants and local cannot get along well due to lag of interaction. The suburb becomes dangerous as the crime rate increases. The green areas are declined as the suburban areas are developed. The heat from the sun which normally is absorbed by vegetation is now stalled in the atmosphere. This abandon heat is called urban island effect which causes the temperature to rise. People end up spending more money to cool their houses down.
In order to improve the current suburban housing, the aims are safe living environment, more interaction between dwellers and environmentally sustainable. Fences should be removed and replaced with park to create interaction between dwellers. This green space also helps absorb excessive heat.
Houses are sunk down about 1.5m into the ground and merge the part above the ground with the landscape using brick steps. The aim is to create big shared space throughout the whole neighborhood. This friendship environment encourages dwellers care after each other, aware of each other safety. This space also allows bigger group activities not just between 2 dwellers that live close to each other but everyone in the surrounding residence.
Another level can be added on top of the current form to increase the capacity to be able to sustain the future growth. Top and bottom part of the house can be separated into 2 units, so instead of sale those as 1 house they can be sale like 2 apartment units.
Brick has many beneficial values such as; it is one of the affordable materials requires little maintenance, value recognition as brick house usually gets better sale value, fire insulation, comfort, thermo-mass as well as environmentally friendly. In this project, a solid brick wall has been reconstructed into smaller strips known as "weaving brick walls". The main idea is to soften the bulky look of the normal brick wall. The walls are bent at different points, creating gaps to let indirect sunlight into the interior. These gaps are placed on east and west facades, creating cross ventilation. Apart from lighting and ventilation, the weaving walls can also be used as seating and planter pot.
