Excelsior Hall – A plural approah to heritage

With more architects being influenced by the concept of Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD ), it is significant that the Green Building Councils of Australia and New Zealand are reviewing their previous hard-line criteria on key aspects of the sustainable environmental credentials of timber.

It took 10 years of research and cost millions of dollars, but now the world’s first Timber Service Life Design Guide (TSLDG ) and educational software TimberLife is available to specifiers.

In this Melbourne bayside home, reclaimed and new timbers are key materials. Light and shade, air and views all interact in a clever integration of nautically-inspired ageless elegance achieved with clean lines and simple design.

Fond memories of family camping holidays in the South Island bush with boat-only access and no power were the inspiration for a unique bach (a quintessential Kiwi holiday shack or house) that achieved top honours in the 2007 New Zealand Timber Design Awards.

The ambient smells of decades of engine grease and diesel spills have been replaced with those of timber at the award-winning new facility for the University of Tasmania (UTAS) School of Architecture and Design and Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood.

As new kids on the block, unconstrained by a history of school design and free of the boundaries experience can unwittingly impose, architect Jenni Webster and her team at Spowers expressed a fresh eye when they designed the multi-award winning Williamstown High School.

Visualise a rustic caravan with a canvas awning and you have some idea of the design inspiration for this holiday house with its magnificent views across vineyards and Geographe Bay in south-west Western Australia.

Richard Kirk, architect of the best residential renovation in the 2007 Australian Timber Design Awards, says he “delights in the variety of different ways that timber can be detailed and finished to respond to the site and echo the life of the building”.