The Parker Fellowship I have been given the opportunity to undertake this personal architectural journey through the Parker Fellowship, an initiative of the Architecture Foundation and the University of Newcastle. Premise Australia is currently the fifth worst emitter of green house gases in the world on a per capita basis, ranking only marginally better than gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. A significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is suburban residential development, accounting for 11.1%, while the Electricity, gas and water we use to run them accounts for 35.4% of emissions. Currently in Australia, the ‘Mcmansion’ dominates the suburban landscape. With little regard for the surrounding context or climactic conditions, the majority of these homes rely solely on air conditioning units and additional hardware to regulate indoor temperature. These houses may have a low initial outlay but they do not factor in the ongoing cost of maintaining a thermal equilibrium in a climate typified by extremes in temperature.
With the insurmountable reality of climate change, and the issue of housing affordability becoming a rapidly growing concern in Australia’s major cities, where is the choice for families who want an economical, sustainable alternative? Considering the range in different climactic regions in Australia, why are we building these houses that contribute little in terms of user comfort and thermal performance?
The same range of climactic regions that we experience in our country can be found across the entire continent of Asia. What might we be able to learn from Asian vernacular architecture that could be applied to the formation of a new Australian housing typology?
Aim of Travels The aim of my travels is to document the vernacular housing of Asia in order to investigate how it might contribute to the creation of a new Australian vernacular. Through the process of sketching and photography, I intend to examine how buildings respond to their local climate and context in order to better understand how they function and regulate thermal comfort. Over the course of my journey I will be travelling through several different climactic regions that correspond to those in Australia.