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Innovative houses, built with a window to the future 2004 is the Year of the Built Environment (YBE) and its showcase event, the 'Houses of the Future' exhibition, offers an exciting glimpse of the future of Australian housing. The six prototype houses, each featuring different materials and specially designed by leading Australian architects, will challenge conventional visions of what a house can and should be. The YBE2004 Houses of the Future exhibition is all about fostering innovation. It brought together architects with an interest in working with a particular material, with trade associations and research institutes working with that material. Made from glass, cardboard, clay, steel, concrete and timber the aim was to design environmentally sustainable and innovative homes that are prefabricated for easy erection and transportation. Each house is not only transportable but also affordable. | 
| Part of what makes this new design possible are advances in technology. These houses profile innovations in construction and in environmental features. Each house complies with NSW BASIX and Victoria's 5-star Standard for housing and other environmental design measures, such as: storm-water retention and grey water recycling; natural solar power and ventilation; recyclable materials; as well as architectural design that focuses on quality rather than quantity of space. In terms of water and energy, each house has AAA-rated appliances or better. | Developing these new technologies required a lot of support from the industry. The exhibition is made up of the input of industry associations, six architectural firms, two universities and several project managers to pull it all together. Carter Holt Harvey was one manufacturer and building material supplier to offer its support, in this case to the Timber House, contributing Hyspan Structural LVL and Hybeam Engineered I-Joists and associated technologies. The Timber House The Timber House was designed by architects Stephanie Smith and Ken McBryde of Innovarchi and was sponsored by the Timber Development Association. The house explores the relationship between the single-family home and its surroundings. Using timber cladding to form a kind of internal and external skin that undulates with the landscape (but not the urban, new estate landscape), the idea was to blur the distinction between inside and out and to integrate all parts of the house - wall, roof and floor. But the skin actually serves several purposes. It is a shading mechanism and a solar collector, featuring the red 'stripe' of solar cells that generates all of its electricity. The house's shape is also designed to maximise water-recycling by collecting rainwater. As the architects state, ".the house aims to challenge traditional thoughts about how timber can be used and what is actually a timber product. It introduces advances in materials technology using fibre products which are an excellent renewable resource." Innovarchi chose to be involved with the Timber House because timber is a sustainable resource that has natural energy benefits and is affordable and easy to work with. The house features Hyspan and termite treated Hybeam, manufactured from renewable plantation pine, plus other environmentally sustainable timber products. To take a look, visit the TDA website, www.timber.net.au 
For further information contact:
Carter Holt Harvey
Phone: 1300 658 8...
Fax: 02 9468 5....
Web: www.chhwoodproducts.com.au
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