All case studies

Apex residence was conceived as the designer’s own residence. It is a place of retreat for a young working couple that blends the seemingly opposed paradigms of close connection to land and nature within a necessarily suburban location.

The project is a key element of the Cairns Cityport Master Plan which has transformed the waterfront into an urban public realm. The client prioritised the conservation of the wharf’s historic sheds and artefacts as well as the creation of waterfront public space. The design sought to fulfil these aspirations by engaging multiple historic elements with a language of new social follies that are fabricated from salvaged timbers. These are designed to create portals to particular places of historic and environmental interest.

The owners held a long term desire to build their own home and were at a stage of life where they had the skills, resources and the capacity to take time off work and funds to do the construction without raising a mortgage.

This is a modest tropical townhouse on a 195m² freehold block. It demonstrates exemplary infill development, both in its streetscape presentation and also as part of the broader development of the small inner urban subdivision.

Edge Hill State School has a focus on respecting diversity and developing critical thinking and creativity to be global citizens in a sustainable world. The school is well resourced with excellent facilities including the new Environmental Interpretive Centre.

This project is a re-presentation of Phillip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA – less the glass – making it a perfectly adaptable modernist prototype for contemporary living in tropical latitudes. This residence is a new housing prototype and a re-think of the possibilities of a typical suburban context within our tropical cities.

In 2009, the Cairns campus of James Cook University (JCU) represented a typical small to medium sized campus, comprising nine academic and service buildings with a total air conditioned floor area of approximately 25,000m2. The Campus is situated in the coastal tropics and peak summer air conditioning loads are high with a year round requirement for cooling. Annual energy usage of air conditioning systems is therefore high and represents a significant part of the University’s operating costs.

Located within the Daintree World Heritage Area, the Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO) is an environmentally sensitive research facility consisting of labs, conference facilities for 100 people, flexible covered and protected outdoor spaces and various accommodation options for up to 56 staff, researchers and groups. Designed with the tropical climate at the forefront of the decision making process, the DRO is a world-class facility that enables world-class research by James Cook University (JCU) students and national and international researchers.

The client was a licensed builder and HIA Greensmart professional wanting an affordable, practical and comfortable family home that applied green building principles. The Kula house typifies the traditional ‘longhouse’ design, a climate responsive building type common to the cultures of the Pacific islands and Southeast Asia. The house is named after ‘Kula’ shells that are valuable in the PNG Trobriand Islands. Trobrianders believe that mere argument is unlikely to change someone's mind and the art of persuasion through indirect and subtle means like the physical allure of gifts such as valuable ‘Kula’ shells are a vital part of negotiation. The ‘Kula’ barter system is an inherent part of this culture.

The Malanda Falls Visitor Centre was established in 1996 by a team of enthusiastic and passionate locals. Their dream was to provide a place to help visitors and school children understand and appreciate this unique rainforest environment.

The client approached the architect with a design for a small studio dwelling to be constructed on their acreage property bordering the Clohesy River on the edge of Barron Gorge national park. The property had no mains power or water, but had an existing shed (which the clients were living in) and solar power system.

The Bluewater development site is located adjacent to the Captain Cook Highway between Reed Road and Trinity Beach Road some 15kms north of Cairns. The 180 hectare site extends from Captain Cook Highway to the steep slopes of Earl Hill and incorporates the low lying Moore’s Gully floodplain. Moore’s Gully catchment size is 730ha resulting in flows of 150m3/sec in the 100yr ARI event.

The Redlynch Sports Stadium is a purpose built, four court multipurpose centre that includes a 40m x 20m international standard court. It caters to futsal competitions as well as other sports (netball, volleyball and badminton). The facility has approximately 3000m2 of open floor plan, 10m high ceilings and specialised rubber sports flooring system (9mm ply).

Family activities are at the forefront for this young household, and are accommodated in a manner that allows parents to overview activities from any room in the house or central courtyard. Each room is connected by veranda space, which intertwines circulation, social and play areas.

A high energy-rated 3 bedroom dwelling that was quickly constructed to minimize disruption to guests staying at the Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat. Using Jon Nott’s newly patented wall fixing process FASTABUILD, the project was completed on-site in 3 weeks as the wall frames were assembled off-site the previous prior.

The key focus of this project was to transform an existing dilapidated commercial structure split in two halves over five levels into an energy efficient building with an official Australian Green Building Council Green Star rating. The renovated building provides the regional headquarters for the growing RPS Group, previously housed over several sites. The existing structure was re-used along with careful façade design, sun shading and an efficient floor plan resulting in an energy efficient design respecting the tropical environment.

The family owned Skyrail was conceived in 1987. It was proposed that a 7.5 km long cableway, the longest in the world at the time, be constructed in the rainforest from Caravonica to Kuranda. The developers were committed to delivering an environmentally sustainable tourist attraction that allows a unique interaction with the rainforest in an environmentally friendly way.

Smithfield Village is a sustainable master planned community within the existing community of Smithfield, Cairns. The project is one of Cairns’s largest master planned communities to date. It incorporates 1300 residential lots released over 38 stages with mixed land use, open space recreation and environmental parks. The main sustainability feature of the Village is the Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD).

This was a difficult sloping site adjoining the rainforest that encouraged a ‘tread lightly on the earth principal’ (careful site works protect the environment and often costs less). Designing with light weight construction and a minimal flat platform ensured interaction with this spectacular rainforest site at all times.

The Sunbird house was conceived as a demonstration project to break new ground and showcase expertise in tropical design and construction. It was built at a time when roof insulation was still an optional extra for many Cairns builders. Project highlights include the use of sustainable materials, energy saving technology, low emission living and passive design principles in tropical Queensland. The house was awarded a Master Builder's Association Energy Aware Home Award in 2002. It was open for inspection to the public for Sustainable House Day in 2008.

The home features a number of curved roof sections that fall strikingly well over vibrant walls of purple, wild moss and charcoal. The external face of the house hosts stunning banks of timber louvers and sweeping expanses of curved verandas on all sides. This home has been skilfully built with a focus on the tropics. Designed for a large extended family, this home is full of practical sustainable design features including recycled and plantation timbers.

The Cairns Institute gives concrete expression to James Cook University’s aim to become one of the world’s leading research universities in the tropics. As a repository of regional knowledge and research capacity, the institute is perfectly positioned to make a significant contribution to the development of a sustainable quality of life for tropical communities.

This project was initiated in 1984 and completed in 1985. It was not originally conceived as an ecological or sustainable dwelling. However, the open design, the use of readily available materials on the property, and the topographical location resulted in the construction lending itself to be upgraded to an efficient sustainable and comfortable house design.

This elevated three storey home combines sustainability with elegance and luxury. Constructed from recycled materials and plantation timber, passive building design principles have been enhanced by Gateway Constructions' patented breathable wall system. Ventilated roofing, window and door positioning for cross ventilation and site orientation all maximise energy efficiency.

William McCormack Place (WMP) is an office precinct located in the central business district of Cairns. It comprises of two buildings built for the Queensland Government to provide flexible office space for government departments.