Domus Expired

its all over!
here are our (copacabana 2's) posters,
ps have no idea why they came out so funny coloured




thanks nic and and cj, pleasure to work with :)

Team7-final update

Domus

Domus Finished!

Heya, Here is the final sustainability poster for our project and photos of our site model. Richard I hope you like them.Poster for sustainability. Shows the process we used in the house, compost toilet, water catchment system, grey water system and solar panels.

Photos of the model.

CJ's Minima

CJ's Minimal

Ok, now for my very late post of Minimal.

This was some of my developmental work:

\
And these were my final posters:

Finally its over, congratulations to everyone for their fantastic efforts.
This'll be my final post for this project, thought I should put on a few photos of the model, hopefully Andy or Nick put our poster up. And to Nick and Andy, thanks again for everything, you were both a pleasure to work with.

DOMUS - the end

hey guys.
hope all your reviews went better than ours.
i think the biggest thing i learnt today was how to hold back tears.


So here are two of our posters from today, which i like, and i don't know if the reviewers did, they didn't say anything about the actual presentation we put together so it's possible that they might have.


This site plan shows the orientation and position of our architecture in comparison to the structures already ar dijilimbuddi. It also shows the progression of our design.
The text explains the considerations of the climate. Which says:

ARID CLIMATE:
temperature - summer temperatures are very hot during the day and remain warm at night, whilst winter temperatures are warm during the day and freezing at night.
water - the least annual rainfall in Australia, although bore water is accessible. grey water can be used to water vegetation.
vegetation - there are a lot of desert grasses and very few trees. vegetation around the building will cool the surrounding air.
landscape - is entirely flat, posing no design restrictions
wind - winds can vary from light to gale force and can sometimes cause dust storms.

DESIGNING:
orientation - elongate the building along the east and west axis and face main living areas north.
shape - arrange the building as a compact cube with a central courtyard for cross ventilation.
materials - should have high thermal mass, masonry and large amounts of insulation are ideal. light colours which are not metallic should be used to reflect the harsh sun.
shading - large eaves and verandas along with louvers and shutters should be used to block direct sun.


This is the second poster, it displays the feel of our design. We can see how the spaces are as open as possible, and that light colours are used, to create a cooler atmosphere.


Thanks to my team members, Nat and Finch, i guess even though we argued a bit we pulled our presentation together in the end.

Design

Solar energy etc...

Photovoltaic (PV) cells take advantage of the photovoltaic effect that occurs when a junction of two suitable materials, such as metal and a semiconductor or two opposite polarity semiconductors, is exposed to electromagnetic radiation. As solar radiation (sunlight) is absorbed by a PV cell, electrons are mobilized at the negative contact, and if a suitable circuit is made to the positive contact, an electrical current is generated. Several cells connected together and encapsulated for protection form a PV module. These are available in a variety of power outputs, typically rated from 20 to 100 W, though the exact power output varies directly with the intensity of solar radiation. PV modules produce electricity in direct current (DC) format, so if alternating current (AC) electricity is required, the output must be converted with an inverter. AC is the form commonly available from the electricity mains.

Photovoltaic Cells

In a photovoltaic cell, light excites electrons to move from one layer to another through semiconductive silicon materials. This produces an electric current.

The large majority of modules used at present are based on cells made from wafers of high-grade silicon. These are comparatively efficient, typically converting between 10 and 15 per cent of the sunlight to electricity, but are labour and energy intensive to manufacture. The alternative to crystalline silicon is thin-film technology, so called because a very thin film of PV material is deposited on to a suitable substrate. This promises easier and less energy intensive mass production, which should in the longer term help to reduce the cost of PV technology; but thin films are slightly less efficient solar energy converters than crystalline versions.

Arrays of PV modules have been routinely used as the main power source for space satellites since the late 1950s. PV systems are now being used increasingly in areas of the world where there is no mains electricity to provide power for lights, refrigerators, water-pumping equipment, and communications devices. Several countries, particularly Japan, Germany, and the United States, are now promoting the incorporation of PV into homes and offices as a means of generating electricity at the point of use in an environmentally acceptable manner. Batteries can serve as storage devices for excess electric energy produced from wind or photovoltaic devices

Hot water:

Solar water-heating systems, which provide hot water at a temperature suitable for washing (generally no more than 80° C/176° F and typically 40 to 50° C/104 to 122° F) are of two fundamental types: flat plate collectors and evacuated tubes. Flat plate collectors generally consist of a black absorber plate (black surfaces absorb more of the incident solar radiation and are therefore more efficient collectors than lighter surfaces), housed in an insulated weatherproof case with a glazed front. The casing helps to reduce conduction and convection heat losses to the surrounding air. The absorber plates of many modern collectors have special selective coatings applied to them that further enhance the thermal performance by reducing radiation losses.

Evacuated tube collectors reduce radiative heat losses to the environment still further by housing the absorber—in this case a metal fin—within a sealed glass vacuum tube (similar to a vacuum flask). A special fluid contained within a closed channel attached to the fin transfers the heat energy collected to the hot water circuit. Evacuated tubes are generally more efficient than flat plate collectors, but because of their greater complexity are also more expensive. Flat plate technology can also be adapted to provide warm air, as opposed to hot water, for space-heating purposes. Active solar-heating systems have been used efficiently for water- and space-heating since the early 1970s. Typical residential applications employ roof-mounted, fixed collectors. In the Northern hemisphere, they are oriented in a southerly direction; in the Southern hemisphere, they are oriented to face north. The optimum angle at which to mount collectors relative to the horizontal plane depends on the latitude of the installation. Generally, for year-round applications such as providing hot water, collectors are tilted (relative to the horizontal plane) at an angle equal to the latitude angle ± 15°, and are oriented to face true south (or north) within ± 20°.

In addition to the flat plate collectors, typical hot-water and comfort heating systems include circulating pumps, temperature sensors, automatic controllers to activate the circulating pump, and a storage device. Either air or a liquid (water or a mixture of water and antifreeze) can be used as the fluid in the solar heating system, and a rock bed or a well-insulated water storage tank typically serves as an energy storage medium.

Heat Food:

solar-box cookers, consisting of an insulated box with a glass lid that captures solar energy to heat food;

-cook over wood fire stove?

Grow food-Vegetables???? green house…sun space?

Heating/Cooling:

Passive Solar Energy

Active solar heating systems include special equipment that uses energy from the sun to heat or cool existing structures. Passive solar energy systems involve designing the structures themselves in ways that use solar energy for heating and cooling. For example, in this home, a “sun space” serves as a collector in winter when the solar shades are open and as a cooler in summer when they are closed. Thick concrete walls modulate wide swings in temperature by absorbing heat in winter and insulating in summer. Water compartments provide a thermal mass for storing heat during the day and releasing heat at night.

Passive solar systems capture and use solar energy without the aid of mechanical or electrical devices. Most buildings can be regarded as simple passive solar systems, taking advantage of direct gains of solar radiation through windows or skylights. As the solar radiation strikes floors, walls, and other objects within the room it is converted to heat. Good building design can therefore help to reduce the amount of supplemental heating (such as gas or electricity) required by the building during cold periods. However, care must be taken to prevent excessive gains during hot weather, which would cause overheating. This is usually governed by simple fixed shades or movable blinds that control the amount of sunlight entering the room.

Other architectural features such as conservatories can be used to take advantage of indirect solar gains. Again solar radiation passes through the glazing of such design features to heat the floor, wall, and objects within. This raises the temperature of the air within the sun-space (the area that catches the sun) and this warm air is then transferred to the main living or working areas. True “passive” systems achieve this by natural convection (warm air rising creates air currents), but circulation fans may be used to enhance the heat transfer or to provide more control. Alternatively, the warm air can be vented from the sun-space to the outside of the building and used to create a cool air draught within the main living/working areas. An indirect passive solar system can therefore be designed both to provide heat to the main building in cold weather and to help cool the building during hot periods.

Solar Home

In this solar home in Corrales, New Mexico, United States, a flat plate solar collector (lower right) provides energy to heat water pumped by the windmill. The water is stored in large drums at the side of the home.

Waste disposal:

A sewage treatment process commonly used to treat domestic wastes is the septic tank: a concrete, cinder block, or metal tank where the solids settle and the floatable materials rise. The partly clarified liquid stream flows from a submerged outlet into subsurface rock-filled trenches through which the wastewater can flow and percolate into the soil where it is oxidized aerobically. The floating matter and settled solids can be held from six months to several years, during which they are decomposed anaerobically.

Composting operations of solid wastes include preparing refuse and degrading organic matter by aerobic micro-organisms. Refuse is presorted, to remove materials that might have salvage value or cannot be composted, and is ground up to improve the efficiency of the decomposition process. The refuse is placed in long piles on the ground or deposited in mechanical systems, where it is degraded biologically to a humus with a total nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content of 1 to 3 per cent, depending on the material being composted. After about three weeks, the product is ready for curing, blending with additives, bagging, and marketing.

Source:Encarta 2006

Initial design idea

Key features:
-open plan to allow alot of light in, so don't have to use as much electricity
-Partly underground, to keep cool
-roof connected to gound/environment in some way

CERES

Minimal

Haha, I just saw what time my past blogs came up as being posted, rather rediculous hours of the morning, well as much I'd love to say I was that dedicated, I wasn't, they came out wrong, its only 12:45am now.
Anyway, thought you'd all love to see this website, there is a link you can go to to calculate how much energy you think you'll use and therefore how many solar panels you'll need.
I need to consult Nic and Andy as to what they think they could live without before I post resutlts for our group.
Here's the link:

http://www.solazone.com.au/SOLPOWER.htm#stand-alone

Cheers everyone, cya tomorrow.

This will be the main plant of our courtyard. The Livistonia Palm.
The Livistonia palm is one of the few plants that thrive in the Great Sandy-Tanami Deserts.This species is a medium height, thin-trunk, fan palm with good sun tolerance and cold tolerance It is fast growing for a fan palm and very attractive. As with many Livistona, this species seems to tolerate inland sun.



The Desert oak is another tree that grows throughout the Great Sandy, and is proabably the tree that you see in the site images. They are too large for us to use in the courtyard, though may be appropriate outside protect our structure from excessive wind, and to provide shade.



The shrub that you see all over the desert is the Hummock grasslands. Generally the hummocks are less than a metre tall, but occasionally reach sizes over 2 metres tall and 2 - 3 metres wide. We will probably use this plant on our roof top.

This is some information for a living roof that Andy found a while ago. The advantages being, a living roof enabled our design to relate to it's surroundings, whilst we could still use the roof area for rainwater collection. It also has quite a good thermal mass, which is very important in out climate.