A skip bin that can act as an emergency shelter and a rain coat for a house are two innovative designs by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) architecture students in response to the Brisbane floods.
The Bouncing Back: Resilient Design for Brisbane exhibition, which opens in Fortitude Valley tomorrow, explores new ways to protect infrastructure in the face of natural disasters.
QUT Architecture lecturers Glenda Caldwell and Lindy Osborne lead the projects by second and fourth year students to design flood-proof housing and resilient urban structures.
Ms Caldwell said the project focused on both preparing houses for floods as well as reactive designs used in the event of a natural disaster.
"Housing and urban design to mitigate disaster impacts is a social, financial, cultural and climatic consideration. Solutions need to be wide spread and innovative," Ms Caldwell said.
Ms Osborne said Darwin's Cyclone Tracy in 1974 provoked a major review of building codes, and recent fires and floods sparked similar ongoing reviews, but builders and home owners should act now.
"People don't need to wait until the next natural disaster to initiate change," she said.
"Our building standards have served us well, but situations change and we need to avoid the same fall-out in the future. Getting power, food, water and shelter back online quickly is a major consideration."
The QUT designs include everything from solar powered communication and information stations, deployable and connectable housing pods, futuristic suspended accommodation and an underground mega-structure.
Ms Caldwell and Ms Osborne have also written a paper based on the exercise and its ability to help the students cope with the grief following the floods that devastated the city in January.
"A lot of students who were away on holidays when the flood occurred said they felt disconnected because they were unable to do anything to help from so far away,'' she said.
"This project helped them to reconnect by looking at real solutions."
Sustainable architect, John Cameron, who will be the key-note speaker at the opening of the exhibition, said visionary clients will lay the foundation for new innovation in housing design.
"Innovation needs to be incorporated as a first principal of housing design, not tweaked in at the end,'' he said.
"Councils work within many constraints when modifying building codes - so, clients mandating change from the community level up will be the greatest voice in affecting changes to standards."
The exhibition will open at 5.30pm tomorrow and display panels and models will be on show in the TC Beirne Building, Fortitude Valley Mall, Brisbane from July 22-29.
*High-res images are available for media use
Media contact:
Alita Pashley, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1841 or alita.pashley@qut.edu.au
