The Martian Embassy is home to the Sydney Story Factory, a creative writing centre for young people. Its design, a fusion of whales, rockets and time tunnels, aims to ignite an innate sense of creativity in children.

Overcoming the challenge of sourcing sustainable materials within a limited budget, Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA)  utilised efficient operational systems, renewable products, low maintenance and energy efficient LED lighting, and cross ventilation prefabrication processes to reduce the project’s energy footprint and site time.

The main product used on the project is plywood, a renewable material chosen for its low cost, flexibility in construction, and adaptability to an existing building. Plywood is also easy to cut and join, which meant that it would work well in relation to the design concept of curves and a fluid space. Installation fittings for the Martian Embassy were furthermore kept to a minimum to accommodate for future use, or if the client was to relocate to a new site.

An immersive space of oscillating plywood ribs, animated by red planet lights and sound projections, the Martian Embassy demonstrates how it is possible to produce more with less; to create good design with minimal materials, energy and costs.

INITIATIVES

  • Cross ventilation strategies minimise the use of active heating and cooling systems
  • Optimisation of material usage
  • Renewable plywood used for shelves, seats and tables
  • Offsite prefabrication process reduced energy footprint, site time and costs
  • Computer processes optimised profiles automatically, thus reducing waste
  • Low maintenance, energy efficient LED lighting animates the long, dark space. The lighting has exceeded Building Code energy efficiency requirements.
  • Low VOC paint finishes usage, to minimise the toxic smells for children

Images: Brett Boardman and Peter Murphy