Drake Architects
Self Building (Designing & Building your own Home)
I firmly believe that self-building should be encouraged and that the streamlining of avenues through the planning system and construction industry, be adapted by the authorities.
Self building is largely left to the adventurous and determined to wade their way through the complexities of creating a home for themselves.
Self building encourages individualilty and variety within our built landscape. The care and attention to detail that owner builders inject into the design and delivery of a home insores a superior result. The critical elements to great buildings, are the understanding of space, the knowledge of materials, process and . The sources of good quality information should be made easier to access.
There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the way the contemporary media portray DIY and self building. Speed is not of the essence rather good planning and scheduling is the key to good results, as well as foreseeing the implications that descisions made in step 1 will have on step 10.
Greenwashing has become prevelant in the marketing of products, no more so than in the building industry, source of origin and custody chains are ways to help sift through the noise, but more often that not, a simple first principals approach will give you the answers you need.
This page aims to outline the considerations, steps and processes engaged in Self-Building and at least in part, join some of the dots together.
- Analysing the site
- Creating a Brief
- Finding a Style
Self Building
Self Building (Designing & Building your own Home) I firmly believe that self-building should be encouraged and that the streamlining of avenues through the planning system and construction industry, be adapted by the authorities. Self building is largely left to the adventurous and determined to wade their way through the complexities of creating a home …
Residential
The Greens
In the western suburbs of Brisbane nestled on 10 acres of residential rural bush-land backing onto state forest is the Green House.
To protect against the exposure of the rural setting and the prevailing winter weather, the house is divided into 3 wings surrounding a central pool and lawned courtyard.
Greystone
The Greystone is a MCM inspired home situated in the leafy suburb of Chapel Hill in the western suburbs of Brisbane.
The home is designed for a modern growing family of 7.
We have configured the home around a courtyard opening to the North.
The family’s future needs are encapsulated in the planning and manipulation of the spacial arrangement.
Range House
The Range house is set on a sloping lot overlooking a golf driving range.
The house is compact yet flexible in its layout with volume and glazing expanding the perceived scale and size.
The Sweet Shop
A story of 2 buildings connected and renovated into a delightful home set in the county.
Bayside
Bayside sits overlooking the edges of Moreton Bay.
The house is oriented to take advantage of the slight grade over the site and the requirement for an accessible design to provide an elevated position
Urban Strategies
SDA have extensive experience within the development industry, consulting to developers on urban design; lot, landscape and civil layouts; housing typologies; demonstration and display housing; seed homes; built products; covenants and built form management.
Social + Affordable Housing
SDA has a strong focus on the provision of housing for the sector of the market where housing stress and insecure tenure are key factors effecting them.
Steve and his colleagues have developed an affrdable housing and integrated mixed use development for the Byron Shire Council for a disused site on Byron Bay
Following is a link to an aerial video of the proposal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI6CSLAe3Wo
