Work / Life / Work Balance

Words by Andrew Maynard. Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture – May 2nd, 2012 Many women leave the profession due to the difficult combination of poor work cultures, long hours and low pay. But these conditions affect everyone – women and men – as well as the viability of the profession as a whole. Andrew Maynard sets […]

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Q & A 101 – What building work/s do I need a building permit for?

This week we are continuing on with our Q&A regarding some fundamental questions associated with the design and construction process. This post will be addressing the question: What construction works need a building permit? Feel free to also write to us if you need to discuss anything further. COMMON TYPES OF BUILDING WORKS  Additions Additions […]

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Design Tips – Thermal Mass

           Thermal mass is a critical component of passive solar design, and probably the most misunderstood. The role of thermal mass is to effectively stabilise interior temperatures at all tims of the year, and this at zero running cost, which makes it most attractive. But how does it work? 1.       What is thermal mass? We […]

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Q & A 101 – The Building Process

In an attempt to answer some fundamental questions associated with the design and construction process, we are going to post a Q&A every week for a few months. We hope it helps you learn just a little more about how things work when building or doing a renovation to an existing home. Feel free to […]

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Small Lot Duplex

As population growth continues to increase in Brisbane, where urban sprawl has claimed the farthest reach of any Australian city, it is becoming common to see small-time developers subdividing land close to the city fringe in an attempt to capitalise on density changes in council legislation. Prior to 2009, land owners were not able to […]

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Design’s Journey

Addressing a gathering of architects, Lady Macbeth advised, ‘Screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail.’ Then she left the room and never identifying the sticking venue leaving that task to each architect. Many architects have spent their lives looking for that place to screw their courage to, what is it? Where […]

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Jed’s Masterpiece

Recently, my four-year-old son Jed has been expressing interest in what I do for a living, so yesterday I decided to start teaching him the basics of Google Sketch-up (3D design software). He grasped the fundamentals very quickly and learned how to navigate with the mouse, produce forms and change their colours. I let him muck […]

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