Architecture/Material Research Collaborator: Felix Joensson St Marys 2026
A reclamation audit identifies the reuse potential of a
project and is foundational to our design methodology and ethos. We visit the site to identify materials and elements with a high reuse
potential, photographing and measuring components and assessing their
condition. Everything is documented and catalogued in a detailed audit, graded
from most to least reuse potential, so we know exactly what can be reused or
reclaimed.
Logic of Deconstruction: 1. Interior loose furnishings 2. Cabinetry 3. Doors and windows 4. Interior linings 5. Exterior linings 6. Structure
The audit is carried out during the pre-design or concept design stage, so the
resulting inventory can guide the building and site design from the outset. Working this way reduces waste and
embodied carbon, and has the potential to lower costs compared with sourcing new materials. This is a practical tool with potential to
significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building.
Materials available on the site: reclaimed timber and stone from a dismantled extension to the existing cabin.
Interior, furniture design and fabrication Greens Beach 2024
With this renovation project we sought to
extend the life of a 100-year-old Hydro workers cottage in regional Tasmania — to
save a home that would otherwise be nearing its end of life and demolished. The
insertion of a plywood core re-imagines the interior space while eliminating
the need for major structural work or building outside of the existing
footprint. Existing timber furniture was
salvaged, refinished and reused, keeping it out of landfill. Benchtops use reclaimed
Tasmanian hardwood; cork was selected
for its inherent hygroscopic and insulative properties. Healthy finishes, chosen
for improved interior air quality, are used throughout the project: tung oil,
natural hard wax, and water-based sealers — thereby improving indoor air
quality and resulting in a low allergen, healthy interior space. Employing
design-for-repair principles in construction and natural surface finishes is a
way of enabling current and future users to safely carry out service, repair,
or touch-ups without the need for specialist interventions or harsh toxic chemical-based
solvents or cleaning agents.
This kind of minimal intervention is an
important focus for Practice Matters, working to save existing houses from
demolition through a few considered interventions that improve liveability
without the environmental, material, energy, and time costs of new building.
Ongoing
Landscape design Greens Beach 2025
On the fringes of Narawntapu national park
in northern Lutruwita/Tasmania we are working on a landscape rewilding project
surrounding a private residence. By employing ecological and climate-adaptive
design principles including waste reuse, greywater recirculation, drought and
frost tolerant plantings, we are working to restore habitat for native insects,
birds, reptiles, and small marsupials.
This project is a living prototype and
demonstration project of our approach in working with nature, providing a
counterpoint and alternative to wholesale clearing of native flora and habitat loss
associated with adjacent suburban development patterns and practices.
Ongoing Material Demonstration Project Collaborator: Felix Joensson St Marys 2026
Ghost Cabin is a project that arose from research into
bioregional design in Northeast Tasmania. The site is remote, 800m above sea
level, nestled within dense forest and rocky outcrops. Limitations in
conventional building, driven by location and scarcity of resources, led us to
develop a scaled process of material procurement.
We start with the site as the primary material source,
conducting a reclamation audit of existing materials and identifying what
natural resources are in abundance. From there, we shift out focus slowly outwards,
examining the local town, then extending out to the bioregion. Once these three
scales are exhausted, we turn to conventional material supply chains.
The resulting design gleans nearly 50% of its materials
from the site, and only 35% sourced from outside the bioregion. Construction will get underway Summer 26/27.
Scale 1. Site
2. Locale
3. Bioregion
4. Beyond
Defined By
Control,
direct intervention, autonomy.
Daily travel envelope, community resources.
Distributed
resource
networks, industry, geology and ecology.
Everything
beyond
contextually meaningful local and regional networks.
Key Questions What
do we physically touch? What is already here?
Where do everyday interactions, participation, and small-scale sourcing occur?
Where do core material systems, skills and fabrication networks operate? and what are they?
What must be imported or sourced from national or global systems?
Materials to be resued from the site: reclaimed timber and stone from a dismantled extension to the existing cabin.