Monday, August 29, 2005

Big Boys Meccano

Today the steel fabricator, Des called me, his excitement level about his work is infectious and great to have the enthusiasm. Des and his team have been working flat out to get the structural steel fabricated. Today the majority was delivered on site now we have to bolt all this together. Des will have fabricated circa 17 tonnes of steel in order to build Moonlight, with about 3 tonnes of reinforcing steel. This building will contain close to 20 tonnes of steel.

So over to Charlie and his team now, bolting it all together, so over the next week a lot will happen, floor down, columns up for the roof structure and then the roof structure itself. I have always maintained that plumbing work is big boys meccano but these steel columns is the real stuff.

PS If you have been following this blog you may remember that I wrote in June about the negative impact a wet winter would have on the build programme. As you will have seen the project has been fortunate with number of fine days as the images have shown.

So where is piece b4 that connects to..... Posted by Picasa

Brick wall detail, 2 days later than image below. Note how the mortar is drying out. Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 26, 2005


22,000 face bricks to be laid, even from randomness the eye seeks out patterns Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 25, 2005


Moonlight Head Coastline Posted by Picasa

Outside the norm: Brickwork

After much discussion, observation and consideration the external brickwork has started. This has been an interesting part of the journey as this element does not fit within the norm. Moonlight is using a blend of Daniel Robertson bricks. Why these bricks, well they are gas fired but in batches rather than the continuous kiln method. Fortunately Daniel Robertsons are produced outside of Melbourne, though I had been using the web to search for batch fired bricks. Then the selection is for 50mm bricks, to get the organic feel from the bricks the spec required the purchase of seconds. So the bricks are crusty, have substantial colour variation, maybe banana shaped, fused together or just plain ugly….

Getting the brickwork right some 300 bricks where laid with various trowelling off effects and mortar mixes to examine what the finished look would be in order to make a decision. Now the next part is that neither the mortar nor the joint thickness sits within the Australian standard so the engineer’s approval and specification is required, oh dear must have been a real issue for those romans when starting their dwellings.

Now we have rejected bricks that are half the thickness of a standard brick, using a mortar that is not the standard that is to be trowelled on at a thickness of greater than 10mm. Well the reaction of the Quantity surveyor is close to panic, therefore most be loads of money to lay, a “tier 2” builder who looked at the hotel which has the same brickwork detail said when looking at the job, oh need stonemasons to do this work = expensive.

Reality, the effect sought by Moonlight is not the norm agreed, but once the bricklayers tried out several mortar mixes and trowelling off effects to achieve the desired look and the finish was agreed upon the construction speed is at a rate that is above average for a bricklayer. The cost that is no more expensive than laying regular bricks, reality bites be prepared to challenge the norm and think laterally.

Up close, mortar is still green, will dry to white Posted by Picasa

Finished panel of brickwork Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 24, 2005


Steel Columns part of circa 9 tonnes of steel Posted by Picasa

Cross Bracing  Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 18, 2005


Structure to take 3.5 tonne window frame at end of house Posted by Picasa

Sample wall for Moonlight. Anyone know the architectural influence for this look? Posted by Picasa

Materials galore: Bricks and flooring ready  Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 12, 2005

More on climate etc

An understanding of rainfall cycles was also crucial not only understanding how often the rain falls, but at what intensity, for how long and how Moonlight could efficiently use this resource, then there is the management of evapo-transpiration through irrigation and wind management, storage of treated water through the year, one year in ten rain effects to consider, attitude and appreciation. Then understanding and working with the hydrologist how the captured resource would be post treatment be discharged back into the environment with zero impact.

For Glenn & Wendy this matrix of information combined with solar data to evaluate and determine the management of solar gain and loss on the various potential building sites within the farm was evaluated against the buildings overall footprint determined by the design brief. The climatic extremes had to be considered when evaluating where to site the buildings to maximise the comfort of the people who would eventually stay here.

Recalling The Start

Once Glenn & Wendy had agreed that they would undertake Moonlight as project the process of information gathering started. The first information request from Glenn & Wendy at the start of the design process for Moonlight were the wind roses and climatic information for the region as well as geologic and soil type data. This was followed up with topographical information from the site survey from the surveyor to gain an understanding of landform, drainage systems, development of vegetative systems across the site.

Glenn & Wendy outlined how crucial water management was for all places of habitation in Australia. For a person who had spent 16 years living in London, where rain is a frequent event throughout the year, I understood the advice but took the information rather casually after all when we purchased the block we where aware that the annual rainfall was circa 1100mm pa. This is a reasonable amount of rain. Now that I have lived in Sydney for a year where rain is almost a celebrated event, I appreciate that 1100mm of rain is a lot but if the fall is dominated by one season, there is typically only so much that you are prepared to capture and store.


The following set of wind roses from Cape Otway show the seasonality of wind direction and strength as just one element that Glenn & Wendy considered when preparing the site masterplan for Moonlight.

Wind roses by season, Spring..... Posted by Picasa

Posted by Picasa