Hello Everyone - greetings from Tasmania!
I apologize for being remiss in posting any entries in our travel blog so far... I have been so busy with my vocational visits and exploring this beautiful land. We have 5 weeks here in Tassie, but I could easily spend 5 months! My vocational visits have been great. The diversity and the quality of design in Tassie is inspiring, especially in the residential subdivisions, which are quite different from those in the states. Just about every house in the subdivisions here is unique (as opposed to the sprawling cookie-cutter boxes that seem to be popping up everywhere in the states). It's also impressive to see the extent of contemporary design here, even in the smaller, more rural and remote areas of the state. I have attached a few sample photos.
I have seen a couple of straw-bale homes under construction in the two weeks that I have been here, and I have talked to a couple of straw-bale builders about straw-bale construction in Tassie. There is not a large amount of straw-bale construction occurring here, perhaps due in part to the lack of availability of bales (evidently, straw is only available in a small area of the state where cereal grains are grown). Plus, the entire population of Tasmania is less than 500,000, which is a significantly smaller population than our Rotary district region in central California! I have been thoroughly enjoying my time here, and I only wish I could spend more time studying architecture here, as well as checking out the 19 or so national parks in Tassie.
I will try to update this blog more often in the coming days, when I will, among other things, visit with the dean of the architectural program at the University of Tasmania in Launceston (I hope to find out more about their program to conduct a cost analysis of several different homes with varying degrees of sustainable design). I also hope to find out more about their energy efficiency rating system, which would be equivalent to our LEED program. I encourage you to check out the other entries in our blog for some images of the beautiful land here, as well as more information about what we have been up to here in Tassie. More thumbnails ...
Latest Comments (1)
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Fantastic! (reply)
Mar 30, 2008 19:06 EST by rhpesch
Thanks for the pictures, Brian! I especially enjoyed
'Tassie House09'. Have you had the chance to see any
interiors? I love departures from the standard 'box'
(though I also love good boxes...) but I'm always
curious about how the interior spaces are used with
curved walls.
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