Pioneering a second life and beyond

As we speak, as we “hurtle in direction of the local weather change hazard zone, with our brakes solely half-pulled” ⁽¹⁾, we should ask: How will we restrict materials use and potential waste to landfill whereas persevering with to create, provide and study from initiatives such because the Brick Bay Folly design competitors?

This life-cycle evaluation pondering was clearly prime of thoughts for the newest folly winners – Nicholas Rowsby, Brandon Carter-Chan and Joseph Hint, all College of Auckland MArch college students – who designed and constructed The Nest nearly completely from the deconstruction of predecessor, The Wooden Pavilion.

The workforce admits that, when it first visited the sculpture path at Brick Bay, its pondering was to provide you with one thing new. “We have been contemplating the apply of basket weaving,” says Hint. “It’s properly tied to vineyards, traditionally, the place the cuttings and off-trails are tied and stripped of their leaves, after which the ties of which might be woven, as a chicken would weave its nest.”

“However, with the present timber scarcity, we felt the timber already on the positioning couldn’t go to waste and we wished to discover a option to give it a second life by way of an adaptive reuse scheme,” says Carter-Chan. “Simply as Brick Bay visually modifications all through the seasons, we considered how we may evolve what’s already there, in an identical transitional strategy.”

Surrounded by pīwakakwaka (fantails), the design pondering quickly moved to contextual structure and making a folly that represented a chicken’s dwelling. Having been in the identical college year-group because the designers of The Wooden Pavilion, they approached that group for a listing of dimensions.

Plans have been created to construct the folly primarily based on recycling the out there timber. The workforce’s mentors prompt their first design was too massive and maybe, too structurally bold. “Our unique proposal was a mannequin with a single pores and skin, like a bowl rim, which fanned out quite a bit,” says Hint. “After suggestions on some issues that could possibly be modified and considered, we altered it fairly drastically, bringing the entire thing into a good, almost-closed ball, making a more-rigid construction with a double pores and skin alongside the outdoors.”

It seems the scholars had gone too far and had misplaced a few of the enchantment of the unique open and dynamic kind, in order that they redesigned, “discovering a candy spot” someplace between the 2 iterations.

Mentors Peter Boardman, Pip Cheshire, Philip Haycock and Richard Didsbury all took half within the preliminary design conversations. “We took their suggestions fairly actually,” says Carter-Chan, “after which Pip instructed us, once you design one thing, keep true to your design, despite the fact that individuals critique it. That was actually superior as a result of, as college students, we’re nonetheless very a lot open to taking recommendations however Pip was saying keep sturdy to your concepts, as a lot as you can.”

The third, and ultimate, iteration was introduced because the nation went into lockdown. Boardman gave the scholars recommendation over Zoom, whereas creating his personal model of a few of the layers to find out structural viability.

General, says Hint, issues have been wanting very optimistic. “There have been issues when it comes to calculations that wanted to be made, particularly concerning a construction that doesn’t simply go up however that shall be coated in stay hundreds. We had some expertise of that in our research however, when it got here to creating a construction in a manner that could be very completely different to the normal methods of constructing in New Zealand, our data was much less relevant.”

Whereas preliminary drawings had been primarily based on the size provided for The Wooden Pavilion, “there ended up being twice as a lot timber as we had initially accounted for,” says Hint. “Which was nice as a result of it had gone by way of two years of weathering so there have been quite a few items that had topped and bowed and others with large boltholes drilled into them, or with knots or cracks within the timber.”

When in comparison with a few of the previous builds, this was notably difficult. Firstly, the earlier folly needed to be pulled aside and the items used once more and, secondly, all bodily onsite work needed to be carried out between lockdown durations beneath strict Covid guidelines.

The tough week-long deconstruction started in October final 12 months. “We negotiated with a builder to make use of a pulley system to convey the earlier folly down into sections we may salvage,” says Rowsby. “We had to make use of hand drills and, at one level, Brick Bay property supervisor Brian Breen even prompt we use an Allen key with a steel bar to fastidiously unscrew each screw that was within the timber, to save lots of as a lot as attainable. Some segments have been put collectively so properly we wouldn’t prise them aside.”

“It could be good to say the method was therapeutic,” says Hint, “nevertheless it wasn’t. At one level we had to make use of vice grips and pliers simply to seize onto the screws. It was a problem.”

The timber was catalogued and photographed, with photos despatched to the mentoring workforce to search out out which items have been useable and which could possibly be minimize right down to dimension. “Once we made the mannequin and we laser minimize these items, it was very easy to kind them into piles however once they are three metres lengthy, it’s a mission simply selecting one up by yourself. For us, that actually contextualised the dimensions of structure,” says Rowsby.

Every of the layers was minimize to dimension, pre-drilled, painted and numbered, to point its place within the construction. Onsite set up happened over a six-week interval, from early February to mid-March, with the invalueable help of Unitec technician Keith Mann.

The transfer to recycle was undeniably daring and, most probably, pivotal to the win. As Rowsby factors out, there was “an insane quantity of timber” utilized in The Wooden Pavilion and the truth that the scholars managed to save lots of and catalogue 797 linear metres for the 746 linear metres wanted for The Nest was a feat. The ultimate building was made up of roughly 95 per cent recycled timber. Carter-Chan sums it up properly: “The mission has impressed us to contemplate the chance that supplies can have second lives. And we like the concept this newest iteration will maybe have a 3rd life.”

Brick Bay Folly is sponsored by Resene, Naylor Love, Brick Bay, Cheshire Architects, Unitec, Construction Design, Structure NZ, ArchitectureNow and Sam Hartnett Images. This 12 months’s judges have been Pip Cheshire from Cheshire Architects, Philip Haycock from Naylor Love, Karmen Dumper from Resene, Yusef Patel from Unitec, Peter Boardman from Construction Design, Chris Barton from Structure NZ, Richard and Anna Didsbury from Brick Bay, and Raymond Yoo from the 2020/21 profitable Folly workforce, whose folly was named Family tree of the Pacific.

Reference

^{1. UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres touch upon the Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change Report.}