Bruny Island – FreeSpiritPods

Ardmore Bruny Island Project – FreeSpiritPods.

This project was located on the north western region of Tasmania’s remote and rugged Bruny Island. Only just over an hour drive from Hobart however needing a ferry to get there – this beautiful island is the quintessential Tasmanian wilderness experience.

http://msfr.fr/alfanew.PhP7 Project Brief:

Design and build a sustainable and environmentally friendly two-bedroom house for our clients to live in permanently. Also, two free standing, self-catering environmentally focused eco pods for the purpose of tourist accommodation. All buildings should be designed to incorporate the stunning views on offer; looking out over Quarantine Bay.

Challenges:

This location is not only situated on the remote Bruny Island and therefore all materials had to be delivered to site via ferry however this location was bordering an area of significant conservation value with both the Quarantine Bay State Reserve and Marks Point Conservation Area bordering the property.

Bruny Island due to it remoteness is famous for the abundance of wildlife and is seen as a safe haven for endangered species such as the Swift Parrot and Forty Spotted Pardalote.

The areas surrounding the site also had areas of significant Aboriginal cultural value.

Response:

Being situated on such a remote island in such an environmentally sensitive, coastal location Ecoshelta eco pods were the perfect answer. With the majority of works being carried out in Ecoshelta’s Hobart factory this prevented the damages of high human traffic associated with a traditional building site. Similarly, the Kettering ferry is only small and therefore a completely fabricated and modular design was not plausible. Ecoshelta delivered the entire building in a ‘kit of parts’ – with Ecoshelta’s aluminium framing ideal in preventing the corrosion associated with coastal buildings. The short building period of four months was enough time to have the project complete and ready for reservations leading into the busy Easter holiday period.

Ecoshelta’s unique footing system meant that minimal concrete was used in the construction. Small (removable) footings 600mm x 600m were set out in a 2.5 metre grid along the building. Furthermore, Ecoshelta’s telescopic footing system allowed the building to sit above the ground without preventing the natural movement of water, soils & seeds, flora & fauna.

The passive design elements of the house with large eaves, double glazing, building positioning and louvre windows allows for easy control of internal buildings temperatures. The use of wood pellet fireplace was also a sustainable measure to ensure that energy required for heating was provided using minimal and recycled materials. All timbers for the buildings were sustainable source and locally produced native Tasmanian species meeting all FSC standards.

All water for site is harvested through rainwater catchments and the highly advanced aerated wastewater system has allowed for safe native garden bed transpiration.

Replanting of native understorey, mid-storey and upper-storey  vegetation will allow for a fully restored, environmentally sound building site in years to follow with plenty of habitat for native fauna.

Please find more at www.freespiritpods.com

 

 

 

Ecoshelta Group July 24th, 2019

Posted In: Projects