Eungai Creek Campus

Eungai Creek Campus With more than 30 percent of carbon emissions created through the built environment, the construction industry urgently needs to decarbonise. Global decarbonisation efforts to date have focussed on using plantation softwood timbers, however, in the past century, humans have cleared a forest area the size of continental Europe - more than was cleared in the previous 10,000 years. Felling trees removes Earth’s best way to sequester carbon. What’s more, timber plantations to meet the demands of ‘sustainable’ construction intensifies competition between different land uses, causing massive biodiversity losses and chemical use. A holistic, diversified approach is needed. Regenerative design: The design incorporates the biogenic (stored) carbon of a range of bio-materials including straw, hemp and bamboo. This is a radical departure from contemporary best practice which relies almost solely on softwood products from mono-cropped plantations. Materials selected will generate additional ecological benefits at the cropping sites including restored soil health, improved flood resilience, improved follow-on crop yields, less reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilisers, capture of agricultural waste streams and preservation of natural forest. Benefits to the project site environment include improved air quality (negative VOC design), improved thermal comfort and naturally beautiful, biophilic materials. End-of-life benefits include materials that are compostable – restoring soil carbon and nutrients - and that can be disassembled and removed to leave no trace on site. Community service campus: On a 200-hectare rural property on the mid north coast of NSW, Australia - Dunghutti Country - this paradigm-shifting project for a Sydney college will host groups of 64 Year 9 students, living sustainably for 8-10 weeks. They will participate in a range of community service activities and learning about traditional land management practices from local First Nations knowledge holders. Campus buildings include 10 x 8-person student accommodation cabins (totalling 1,093m2), a Health Centre (117 m2), Reception and Dining Hall (400 m2), for a total campus GFA of 1,610 m2. The aim is to provide an immersive student experience at a critical developmental stage, with students help others and restoring local ecosystems. Each cabin has an upfront carbon footprint of 435kg CO2e/sqm which is significantly less than a relevant Australian benchmark. In addition, each cabin stores almost 20 tonnes of carbon. Crucially, due to the rapid growth time of material source crops, the carbon will be stored in the structure for significantly longer than it took be sequestered. Material palette: Our strategy is to firstly dematerialise the buildings by deleting anything superfluous to function, and secondly to maximise the use of carbon-positive, restorative biomass materials. Crucially, the design includes no concrete, tiling, plaster, paint, plantation softwood, or architectural aluminium. Architectural response: Referencing Australia’s rural vernacular, the building forms will evoke the agricultural shed, verandah and lean-to, with crisp, uncluttered geometry and detailing, and gabled rooflines sheltering outdoor decks. Campus buildings are arranged along existing site contours and elevated to minimise site disturbance. Construction is fossil-fuel free and the campus will be self-sufficient in terms of water and energy supply and waste management.