CITY Issue 56

A STRUCTURAL WATER TANK GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING YOU'RE TAUGHT AS A STUDENT. / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / A LARGE STEEL BULB TANK IS THE HEARTH OF ARCHITECHT PAUL MORGAN’S CAPE SCHANCK HOUSE. THE TANK COLLECTS RAINWATER FOR MULTIPLE USES AS IT ALSO STRUCTURALLY CARRIES THE ROOF’S LOAD. glass windows that allow sunlight to wa m the house in the winte and an insistence by the a chitect to p ese ve and build a ound those bountiful tea t ees, the Cape Schanck House is an immediate contende fo any numbe of “g een” a chitectu e platitudes. But the jewel in Mo gan’s eco-conscious c own is not g een, but blue. In the house’s living oom, the skin-like oof gathe s into a floo -to-ceiling, inte nal steel bulb tank, which both captu es ainwate and st uctu ally ca ies the oof load. Sto ing as much as , lite s of ainwate , the tank becomes the home’s cent al focus, dividing the living space into sepa ate quad ants while d awing visito s and inhabitants to its hea th-like qualities. In the wa me months, the sto ed wate acts as the house’s “ai -conditioning unit,” cooling the living oom’s ambient ai , aided by c oss ventilation p ovided by those wind scoops. Excess wate , meanwhile, d ains to an exte nal tank that is used to flush toilets, i igate the ga den, wash clothes, and p ovide d inking wate . Mo gan, who says he doesn’t like to be conside ed an “envi onmental a chitect,” is quick to point out that a adical featu e like the bulb tank might not have been possible if he wasn’t his own client. “ s an a chitect designing fo myself and my siste [who co-owns the house],” Mo gan says, “I was able to take g eate isks: st uctu al wate tank whe e you t y to get all the ainwate into the house goes against eve ything you’ e taught as a student.” s the wo ld’s wate supply is inc easingly comp omised, blue design is fast becoming a design di ective athe than a choice. s the d iest habitable continent on ea th (only nta ctica eceives less p ecipitation), ust alia is faced with a unique set of challenges: It is not only expe iencing some of the mo e d amatic effects of climate change mo e quickly than the est of the planet, but it is also home to the g eatest pe -pe son wate consume s in the wo ld. In , when due to lack of sufficient ainfall ust alia’s dams d opped dange ously below pe cent, local gove nments finally ealized the extent to which the continent’s wate supplies we e endange ed, imposing est ictions on eve yday activities like wate ing the ga den o lawn, washing the ca , o filling the pool, while passing sweeping legislation to cu b wate use in new buildings. “Nowadays, public debate in ust alia is la gely about the envi onment,” Mo gan explains. “Most of the hottest yea s of the past centu y have occu ed in the last [decade]. Wate catchment capacities have fallen to ala ming levels. Rest ictions have been applied and the gove nment is encou aging neighbo s to ‘dob in’ [essentially info m on thei unlawful] neighbo s.” Picket-fence squabbles notwithstanding, ust alia has in tu n become a global case study not only fo volunta y g een initiatives, but also fo statemandated “blue ules” design, setting new ba s fo levels of building sustainability and wate conse vation. Indeed, in ust alia, the pa adigm of a chitectu e itself is changing. s it does, the p actice will inc easingly equi e a mo e complex set of skills and vocabula y elated to plumbing, geothe mal technologies, wate sto age, desalination, g ay wate use, and sewe filt ation. nd as ust alia unde goes its “blue” makeove , the est of the design wo ld is watching closely, eve awa e that we may soon all need to make simila effo ts. CITY TY 53

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 56

City Issue 56 Contents Letter from City: Re: Design Our Friends: The Faces Behind the Stories Action: What's New, What's Hot, What's Now Wanted: Olympic Bound? Button Up City Moment: The Writing’s on the Wall How We Live: Concrete Jungle Fast Food: Bites of Spring The Amused Bouche: Blueprint Special In Rouge: Hero Worship Fashion: Welcome to the Boys’ Club Travel: My Pod Architecture: Out of the Blue Design: Home Remedies Tokyo Rising Zen and the Art of Catholicism Think Big Face Value Runaways Intimate Relations Where to Buy It: Store Locations Icon: The Infinity Pool

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