Tone Wheeler is an architect, author, educator and consultant with an abiding interest in environmentally sustainable design (esd). in the mid seventies at the university of sydney he assisted in the construction of the "autonomous house", a working example of a low energy house constructed entirely from recycled materials. upon graduation tone worked for the australian government in canberra where he designed a range of low cost social housing that won the r.a.i.a residential design award (c s daley medal) in 1980.  for the past thirty years he has worked in his own practice.
tone is a past chair of the aia national environment committee & a past member of the sustainabilty committee. after a ten year association, he retired from the board of ABSA (association of building sustainability assessors) and he was also a member of the building professionals board.
tone has taught extensively over the past 30 years, he has been on the faculty of 3 universities, is a sustainability advocate and frequent speaker at architectural conferences and seminars. he has been a judge on ABC tv  ‘the new inventors’,  a member of the ‘woodies’ and a ‘homie’ on ABC radio.

Articles


Tone on Tuesday: Seeking sustainable suburbia 1: The power of solar
Suburbia is the least sustainable form of urban living. Houses spread out at such low densities that too much land, too much energy and too much infrastructure is needed to support too few people.
Design Notes: Ideas, issues and idiocies from the last fortnight
The most recent upgrade to the NCC / BCA included requirements for houses and apartments to meet higher thermal comfort standards in NatHERS. NSW, ACT, Tassie and the NT brought it in last year. Queensland and Victoria only started yesterday (May 1) despite the latter promising it in 2022. SA and WA will adopt it sometime later (news travels slowly going west).
Tone on Tuesday: Electrification - cute electrics or electrocution?
We’re being urged to go all-electric. Saul Griffith in The Big Switch, and the website Rewiring Australia, argue that we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels to address climate change and energy security.
Tone on Tuesday asks: What’s up with Palm Beach?
Sydney’s architects and planners have been bemused by a controversy over noise complaints made by residents of the far northern suburb of Palm Beach.
Design notes for early April 2024, by Tone on Tuesday
Ideas and issues on design process, design policy, design and politics.
Tone Wheeler asks: Is it prefab or pre-drab – the dilemma of factory-made houses
Modular or prefab housing is the latest thought bubble from the Federal Government to help solve the current housing crisis. It’s a beautiful idea, to make a whole house or apartment in a factory, and yet it’s failed to take off for 75 years. Why? First, the upside.