SAB Building Solutions

Coming soon McMansions for Mars!

Gosh, I have just read an article about NASA’s concept for sustainable housing for Mars. Heck we can’t even get our act together here in Australia let alone the ambitious plan for sustainable structures in outer space. Some clever brains in the way of an astrobiologist and synthetic biologist have come up with a proposal to grow or sprout a dwelling based on a fungus. Not a new concept as Eco designers have been experimenting with biofabricated material with mushroom, the key component to the resin giving unparalleled strength to furniture and walls.
So back to the issue of sustainable housing where particularly in Perth, it is renowned for constructing McMansions. We do not see an integrated approach with all the partners to housing such as state and local government housing authorities, community and the private sector. Adhoc, no strategic focus to sustainable housing means high costs in affordability. It might be better to live on Mars after all. Check out the link to McMansions on Mars.

NASA’s Wild Plan To Build McMansions On Mars–Out Of Fungus It’s actually a lot less crazy than it sounds.

Kitchen Bench tops embrace digital smart technology.
Wow, what a smart solution!

Corian has just released a very interesting innovation. In keeping to how we are moving to uncluttered streamlined surfaces, Corian have come up with Charging Surface®
A cleverly concealed wireless charging device is concealed under the bench top surface. Just simply drop your IPhone or Samsung Galaxy onto the surface and instant charging. How neat is that! Gone are the days of messy cables or finding a charger. Even a built safety mechanism, the charging stops once your device has reached 100% capacity.
Kitchen bench tops are the hub of family gatherings. And you can’t deny, we all spend time each day on the internet using our mobile phones. We now see integration of a workstation as we change the way we integrate work and keeping informed.
Definitely state of the art. Can’t wait for my next kitchen design! Check it out. Visit the Corian website.

Sydney is a buzz right now with the construction industry’s 2017 Sustainability Awards together with some impressive line up of forward sustainable thinkers speaking at seminars. The latest research indicates a sustainable approach to building will provide higher quality outcomes for the homeowners. Alas in Perth there is only a small pool of builders with sustainable knowledge and the vision to demonstrate this to their clients.
On the reverse side we are seeing a host of suppliers now recognising sustainability is important to their business and the products that release to the market. Plus we are seeing opportunities with photovoltaic (PV) technology which now has a very good payback rate.
The role of good design in sustainability is so very important. This week I had a client approach me with a design, already prepared, for her new family home and was keen to have a sustainable build. However, one look at the plans and you could identify that there was little consideration to achieving energy efficiency through good passive design. Sustainability is intrinsic to the design concept not a bolt on principle.
As I pointed out some of the low-hanging fruits when it comes to a sustainable design that could have been considered, she was terribly disappointed this was not pointed out to her by her designer.
It was a small cost to change the design for consideration to future payback to reduced heating and cooling costs. I love my role when a client leaves empowered with knowledge to make her home more comfortable and better low-carbon choices to materials.