SHADOWclad Case Study: National Environment Centre

Project:

National Environment Centre, Thurgoona, NSW

Product:

SHADOWclad® Texture.

Architect(s):

Lindsay + Kerry Clare.

SHADOWclad® Texture.

Wood-man’s Cladcoat

Lindsay and Kerry Clare had already built up a highly successful architectural practice in Queensland when they were appointed Design Directors to the NSW Government Architect, and appointed adjunct professors at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney. Since moving to New South Wales they have continued to employ their innovative style and environmentally aware approach to Australian design projects. The National Environmental Centre at the Riverina TAFE in Albury is a recent example of such a project.

This project for the Government Architect’s Office proved to be an interesting one for the Clares. The pair rose to the challenges presented by the job with characteristic imagination. New era materials such as SHADOWclad Texture by Carter Holt Harvey were a part of the final design.

What was unusual about the project was that the TAFE campus was to be a school with a curriculum encompassing sustainable agricultural practices. Their brief was to design a place for this school where the buildings complemented such ideas. The Clares maximised the use of orientation, cross ventilation, natural day lighting and passive cooling and heating systems, taking the area’s climate into consideration. Environmental responsibility was a design priority so that the buildings would match the school’s philosophies.

“It’s a wonderful place,” says Lindsay Clare of the site in Albury, “but the climate is very different to coastal regions. It required different responses and solutions to coastal areas in Queensland or on the East Coast. The summers are hot and dry, the winters cold and wet so we developed a solution by responding to the environment”.

This response involved various strategies. The first was to create a l a ndscape within landscape. Because the climate outside was unrelenting, they created a controlled courtyard space, a kind of microclimate with its own landscape.

“We used SHADOWclad Texture on the majority of external walls. The internal skin of masonry is clad externally with SHADOWclad which shades the masonry in summer and provides an air gap for insulation in winter. It also provides excellent weathering for the wall”, explains Lindsay. As a new era product, it was ideally suited to the low embodied energy principles behind the Clare’s approach. SHADOWclad Texture was an environmentally responsible choice.

Other passive energy strategies included skylights to take hot air up and out to keep the space cool. Ground source heating and cooling was another, where pipes were laid two metres underground where the temperature is a stable 17 degrees so that in both summer and winter the inside temperature could be stabilised. Technological intervention was applied for only extreme cases, however the ground source cooling/heating reduces the loads and therefore reduces energy consumption.

The Clares also chose SHADOWclad Texture to give the Centre an aesthetic that worked well with its rural surroundings. “The character of the exterior was complemented by the use of the plywood,” says Lindsay, “Our buildings have a low scale horizontal aesthetic of rural buildings, simple and unfussed. We didn’t want to overwork the buildings so that they stood out too much or looked like they were trying too hard in the context”.

The Clares also chose SHADOWclad Texture to give the Centre an aesthetic that worked well with its rural surroundings. “The character of the exterior was complemented by the use of the plywood,” says Lindsay, “Our buildings have a low scale horizontal aesthetic of rural buildings, simple and unfussed. We didn’t want to overwork the buildings so that they stood out too much or looked like they were trying too hard in the context”.

The Woodman’s product is also low maintenance, “we expect that a single coat will have to be applied approximately every 7 years, no sanding back”. The Riverina TAFE was particularly happy to hear this, says Kerry because they wanted to retain the natural appearance of the ply.

As for cost, a balance between economy and the environmental considerations had to be found. “We could have done cheaper cladding with fibrous cement or corrugated iron,”, says Kerry, “but the project was about environmental sustainability. The plywood is an economical product but it also suited to the ideas the school tries to impart to its students.”

Kerry explains that the real economy of SHADOWclad is when it’s used structurally. In this case, SHADOWclad Texture was not only used to clad the walls but, internally, the roof trusses were clad with the Ecoply for structural support. “It also gives the interior a nice timber effect”, she says.

The Clare’s work on The National Environment Centre at the Riverina Institute of TAFE is a great example of a new era of design ideas. This is partly due to the fact that materials like SHADOWclad Texture by Carter Holt Harvey are now available.

Clare Design are now working within the Travis McEwen Group in order to cope with the sudden expansion of their business down South. As part of this large Sydney based practice they are able to draw on vast resources and support, taking on exciting projects in Singapore and China as well as their work in Australia. This is sure to lead to much more innovative design work for the Clares, and to what will hopefully be a global trend toward environmental responsibility.