MODULAR CONSTRUCTION
Once you have finalized the design of your house by yourself, your own designer, or the
Depending on the complexity of design and the number of modules to construct the building,
the supply of the components which are all manufactured overseas(for cost benefits) will take approximately 1 month to be
delivered.
They will arrive wrapped and packed in a shipping container or two that we suggest you keep onsite
to become your safe material store and workshop.
By the time they arrive you would have hopefully been through the process of gaining any planning
permits and construction permits required to do the building.(There is nothing special about the construction system that might
delay this standard process...EXCEPT...Some property developers and subdividers put silly regulations on the design of every
house to be built in their subdivision.) It's usually an ego trip of theirs that really needs to be taken into consideration
before you buy your building lot.
There are other State building/planning regulations that you should also investigate and resolve
before you buy your land.
Our
With all that over, you can start your build which should take you and your assistant, or
your engaged builder just 2 days per module to assemble the house.
If it is to be a 4 module 3 bedroom low cost design, shell construct time should be just a week.
If it's a large conventional sized house of say 20 squares (200 sq.m.), it will require 11 modules and so take 2 men 3 weeks
to construct.
It's then locked up and secure ready for services and cabinetry before your move-in day.
You can build an
Some answers to very important potential authority questions:
There is no limit to the designs available when constructing with the
This is a single module house/apartment taking up 18 sq.m.(200sq.ft.) It's a bedsitter with kitchen and private bathroom.
Ideal for a single person, although can be for a double, and at a squeeze can also sleep 3.
A 2 module house/ apartment taking up 36 sq.m.(400 sq.ft.) This little house is luxury for one, very comfortable for two,
and very practical for a family with 2 children. The kids will sleep in capsules for privacy but still in full size beds.
Parents have a queen size conventional bed except that we suggest it be raised a bit above the floor to allow storage bins
to be slid underneath. The washing machine can be in the kitchen or the bathroom. If you haven't the space for a DUO
in the back yard or GRANNY, the SOLO is still very comfortable.
Ideal as a 2 bedroom or a compact 3 bedroom house taking up just 3 modules of 54 sq.m.(600sq.ft.).
This is a very comfortable compact 3 bedroom house of 72 sq.m.(800sq.ft.).
All these copyright protected designs are space savers with no wastage. All your needs have been catered for by our architect/interior architect team.
Al these models are ideal for permanent living or permanent rental or short term AirBNB type investment. Being so low cost
to build makes rental return so much more exciting!
Beyond those models, you and we can custom design any building with the system with as many modules as you like to use.
Usually
You don't need to do a course in building construction to actually do the build.
However in most locations and most developed countries you will need some kind of training in the building trade to
officially build your house.
To keep your cost down to minimal for instance in Australia, you will need an owner builder's certificate (White Card) to be
allowed to build your own house. The course is very short and mainly about safety precautions needed during the build
and ensuring that you have all the personal insurances to protect anyone coming on the site.
You will of course have to use
licensed plumbers and electricians for their part of the build. For wall outlets, conduits are already built into walls where
you would like them.... no conduits are visible on surfaces.
A fully licensed builder will find one of these houses a dream to build .
As mentioned earlier, the design of the
To enable you to play with the modules, we have provided some plans which if you print out and then cut out the “modules”
you can play with designing your own
But to be very flexible it is quite practical to use conventional construction as well for passages, very large living rooms
and stairwells/connections.
You can build to 3 storeys but bear in mind once you go above 1 storey you are up for extra costs in the build and services
and you will have to buy expensive scaffolding then resell it (the most economical way) or you will have to rent it. Very
expensive because in most instances you will plan for having it for a short time that eventually becomes much longer .
Beware!! 100 years of experience has taught us to buy and sell scaffolding!!!
Talk to us first, we might have some we can lend you or know others with some available.
If you plan to use your own architect or designer, tell them we are very happy to talk to them and provide advice.
Alternatively, we have already a large selection of designs for you to consider, and they can all be reversed and mirror
imaged and modified.
Now we have reached the serious section of the site. Here we are going to show you and explain how you actually build an
You will have to have and pay for soil tests and special structural engineering design done (just like required for all builds). Your builder or our team can help you with these formalities.
Now to the actual build:
Most important is to set out your building accurately and it’s usually going to relate to the distant from a boundary that is permitted by the local building / planning authority. If this is so and you want to have your building as close to the boundary as possible, create a string line distance “D” from the boundary (shown as a thick green line.)
IF YOU PLAN TO USE CONCRETE FOOTINGS: Next step is to dig the corner stump holes after you have consulted with a local structural engineer who will provide you with the diameter and depth of the stump hole. Create a rectangle 5850mm X 2850mm with string lines, square it up by checking that the diagonal distances are identical. Note that these two dimensions may vary for your house to be 6000mm X 3000mm. Check with our architectural team before ordering your house. The corners of the rectangle are the centers of the stump holes. Now place hurdles diagonally across each corner.
Position the first long-side beam on the hurdles and lining up with the string parallel to the boundary. Bolt on the two corner blocks. Now position the 2 end beams and bolt them to the corner blocks. Lastly, bolt the 2nd side beam to the other 2 blocks and bolt the whole frame together, square it up with your strings and diagonal measurements, level the frame up with packers on top of the hurdles then tighten all the bolts.
If you want to go down the non-concrete Surefoot footings or screw pile footings, you still set the building module out the same as for concrete. Just have to make sure that when you put the steel footing in place it will line up with the bolting under the floor frame corners.
When ordering your house, you need to tell us what kind of footings you intend to use.
Next, bolt each corner post on top of the corner blocks, then the corner blocks on top of the posts, then the side and end beams into the block. Square it all up and tighten all the bolts. The “Box” is now complete.
You can now start bolting the floor joists and ceiling joists in place.
If your house is more than one module, we suggest you now start to assemble the next adjoining module just as you have assembled the first module. Then the next module until you have them all assembled.
After you are satisfied that your building frame is lined up and squared, bolt the stumps under the corner blocks and fill the holes with concrete. (You may have to have these inspected before pouring so be aware.)
If the supply of concrete is a problem, there are two very practical alternatives:
a) Surefoot footings which you can fix in place with a jack-hammer, or
b) Spiral drive footings which you will need a machine to install.
Both of these footings can be removed if needed later.
Note that if you go the non-concrete route, then the footings have to go in before you assemble on top of them.
All the construction drawings that you will need for the build will be provided by our architectural team before you start to build so that you can get all your approvals and your construction team have time to study them, learn the process and ask us questions if any arise.
We will also provide YouTube videos of the construction process….it’s easy!
Because each house is different and the components are all different, it’s not possible to give exact costs.
To start with you have to get out of the ground. That requires soil tests to be done and the type of footing selected. If getting concrete to your site is going to be difficult and expensive, then we suggest either screw piles or Surefoot footings.
However as a guide, a module will cost between A$10,000 and $13,000 + taxes and freight to your site.
Once you have your design completed, send it to us and our team will provide you with a firm price.
Then you have to add labour to construct the module (2 men for 2 days), plus roofing, domestic plumbing, electrical and cabinetry.
If your site is in the country and where the rainwater runoff is not restricted, then you can leave the provided roofing as your finished roof. In that case the rainwater will run down inside the corner posts and out onto the ground at the footings.
If you are controlled then you have to allow for a separate flat roof to go over the whole building, using conventional gutters and down pipes.
If you are located close to an IKEA store, we suggest taking your plan with you and getting a quote from IKEA. Their quality is excellent and they have a great range of accessories.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a bespoke design, our team of interior designers will provide a full custom design service for you.
If you have not already heard of us, and are considering engaging an Architect and/or Interior Architect, this is who we are:
The multi discipline design practice is a partnership of an Australian architect, Geoffrey Fulton, who is Torquay, Victorian based, but spends some time of every year overseas; and a German interior architect, Carla Salomon Kerkering, who had a design studio in the old and very beautiful university city of Muenster, Germany.
Our design practice is quite unique in the field of architecture and interior design. We can design in any style but will create only outstanding architecture for clients who appreciate excellent design and respect our recommendations. We are not “dictators”, let’s just say, “architectural guides”!
Carla brings to the practice a particular forte in interior design and especially in kitchen, bathroom, and furniture design.
We both work together on all projects. (By the way, she is a very accomplished dog illustrator and accepts commissions in this field)
We respect our client’s needs and desires for the building they want, and will give it to them, all while meeting the high architectural standard we set for our architecture and design. All the design work is done by us… not by staff in the studios or outside. And we draw everything by hand. We were surprised to learn that builders prefer our drawings to CAD drawings because ours are more accurate. I guess they are right. We don’t draw a line without thinking about it before hand. Computers just draw lines without any personal touch.
We gain inspiration from having visited the ancient structures of Egypt, Morocco, Albania, the whole of the Middle East, Afghanistan, India, and Mexico. Geoffrey Fulton has actually had hands on experience working on archeological excavations dating back to 4,000 BC just outside the present city of Jericho, and near the Dead Sea.
"I built my first two houses before completing my architectural studies, then spent 3½ years traveling the world studying the architecture of the ancient and new worlds."
We are admirers of the works of the great architects, Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Rennie Mackintosh; and the works of the Bauhaus and Art Nouveau periods. We are impressed by the Japanese styles of the past and present, and the architecture of indigenous people in the third world. Our work is influenced by all of them.
We can work in any style. We have a leaning towards minimalism but consider clients preferences. It is important to us that our clients feel at home. We like to add some areas of decoration but if the client wants and can live comfortably with the extreme, we are happy to provide it. We enjoy pushing the envelope and like to work with clients who have the same desires.
We emphasize that we do not follow the short-living current fad styles produced by some architects and designers. We believe that we are leaders in style and that style has become recognized as timeless.
You will notice the quite marked style differences between the father and son 4 Luff houses, and “Villa Marrakesh”, which is not our usual style but requested by a French Moroccan Jewish client we have known for many years!
“It shouldn’t be hard for you to stop and sometimes look at the stains on walls, or ashes of a fire, or clouds or mud like places in which you may find really marvelous ideas.” (from the notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci.)
We have studied and can use any construction system from mud brick (I was a member of an archeological
team that excavated a site with a 9,000 year old wall in Jericho), rammed earth (studied local construction of very large multi
storey multi family village dwellings at Skoura, Morocco), straw bale, through to today’s hi-tech, to Beyond 2000….
The
If the idea of an energy saving underground house appeals to you, we would be delighted to design it. We know where to get the
prefab modules and right plants that will grow and flourish on its “roof”.
We have been designing structures using shipping
containers for many years but have always been aware of the fact that they are too narrow to be really practical and you have
to spend big dollars insulating every square centimeter of steel so that you don’t get mould developing.
So over the last 12 months we have been developing the AMAZiN HOUSE. It is a modular prefab system using a 6m X 3m module. 2
Persons with no skills can assemble completely a shell of a module in less than two days using only a spanner and a screwdriver.
It will make the fastest and most economical house in the world. A 2-bedroom house requires 3 or 4 modules. The system is perfect for
granny flats, AirBNB units and full-size houses at about one third less cost than conventional build. No concrete involved!
Once you have built the shell complete, you bring in the electrician, plumber and cabinetry… we suggest a trip to IKEA. You can
build to 3 levels just like building with Lego blocks. Early next year we aim to have the system available on Amazon.com.
This is the perfect house for all those very unfortunate people who have lost their homes in the recent bushfires. For $50K, they can
have a roof over their heads again and extend it to any size as funds and time permit. And they can do most of the structure
building work themselves.
Our designs are environmentally friendly and bioclimatic. For example, 20 years ago, we designed an accountancy
firm’s office building at Colac, Victoria, and adapted the tall ventilating towers used on all houses in a town we visited
located in the Black Rock Desert of Iraq! It is the only and non-energy consuming cooling for all buildings where the outside
shade temperature is regularly 50 degrees C. It works there and it works at Colac! We used the same principal on 3 townhouses
at Torquay. It enables us to get a deck on the roof of the building that normally would not have been permitted!!! It’s a little
trick that we have exclusively for our clients’ benefits!!
Because we often travel the World, we have access to many of the international design, building,
and other trade fairs where all the new innovations are presented to the world. It is our proven belief that there is something
valuable to be learnt from visiting any trade fair, no matter what the discipline.
A visit to a recent fruit and vegetable growers’ trade fair provided us with a product that we can adapt and be beneficial in the building construction side of our
work. We learnt a great deal at a European international bread baking expo, at a trade exclusive aluminium expo, a trade
exclusive bus manufacturer’s expo, and an environmental expo.
We returned to Australia after spending three months in Europe. We spent some very exhausting but very valuable days at the
Hanover World Fair. The theme of the fair was ecological sustainable development throughout the world.
We have already completed the preliminary design work for a 140-unit 3 generational retirement village, with
a luxury destination health and beauty spa with attached chateau, vineyard and winery, gymnasium and craft studios. It is to be
called Dancing Kangaroo.
What makes this project a world first? It has been designed especially for retiring farmers who have never been catared for before and anywhere in the world.
Fundamentally, everything about the design will be influenced by the ecology of the location, and the sustainability of the
indigenous vegetation on the site. We ourselves will be putting very rigid controls on the architecture, materials for
construction, and colours of materials so that all development blends one to another and into the nature.
We will also be introducing energy and water saving and recycling systems, along with the extensive use of recycled materials.
We admit to not being specialists in every particular field of architectural design. As was the case with the health and beauty
spa. But we become specialists before we start design work.
In this case we traveled around the world looking at the best spas, talking to the top people in the industry, and visiting the
International Spa Convention at Las Vegas.
We become specialists in every
necessary field of architecture needed by a project at our own expense.
We believe that the village will be the ultimate
living and retirement location and environment in Australia, and one of the best in the world. Everything to be planted in the
village is to be edible.
Every house lot will have its own vineyard on the rear third of the lot. Residents will learn to make
their own wine, beer and spirits at the facilities within the village. Even have their own wine labels!!
To be part of this
big
project and live in this exciting village will be less expensive than any other retirement village yet it will be far more
profitable than any other village while having much superior facilities!
There is a revolution taking place in the Motel
industry. Conventional motels will phase out as the new and more accepted self-service motels become more common. They are all
over France, moving into Germany and the rest of Europe, South Africa, USA, and the first three are in Australia under the
Formula 1 banner owned and operated by the Accor Group. Our AMAZiN HOUSE Module is ideal size and construction for self-service
motels. They also cut the cost dramatically.
We are always looking for development projects with no limit to size. We will work
as architects and project managers, with the landowner to assist him to develop and market his own project on his own land.
If you have some property, and you want to do something with it, give us a call… it costs nothing to talk… we might have just
the right idea for you, and can help you achieve a very successful end result.
Good environmental and ecological design does come at a price, but we put a lot of effort in keeping costs to a
minimum.
We are constantly looking for and finding sources for building products available ex factories and interior products
in very out-of-the-way places. We provide all these products at cost to the clients, so they end up with unique buildings with
unique interiors at a cost far less than if they had taken the normal route to a new building, alteration to a building or just
an interior.
For example, many years ago, Mary Kay Cosmetics Pty. Ltd. engaged us as consulting architects and interior
designers for their new national headquarters in Australia. We reduced the cost of the interior works by nearly 30% by flying
around the world buying materials.
These included thousands of glass beads from a 5th generation family owned glass works at
Hebron, Jordan; the beads to be used in the making of a chandelier, which we personally made for the foyer. Furniture, fabrics
and wall coverings were all purchased direct from manufacturers in Milan; marble components supplied by a “back yard” family
business near Carrara. We purchased original artworks in New York.
While on that buying trip, we ordered more than we needed
of some products to put into stock for the future. We still have available some of them for new clients. For example, B&B Italia
produced thick glass topped dining and board room tables with massive turned cream or red travertine legs. They retailed for
just under $10,000 each. We can supply one of either colour for under $3,000.
As a result of the Mary Kay project, we were engaged to design the national headquarters for two other multi level marketing
companies in Australia, San Michele Fashions, and Salamander Fashions.
Some years ago, we found in a small classified
advertisement in the Melbourne Age newspaper, $68,000 worth of triple glazed tinted and mirror surfaced imported American window
glass. With a very minor architectural detail alteration, it fitted one of our large but low budget residential projects.
The glass was left over from the construction of the Melbourne Stock Exchange Building. We purchased it and passed it on to our
clients, Grant and Sue Luff, without adding any margin for $8,000.
Out of the savings, they more than recovered half of our
fees!
One of our large residential projects, the 2nd Luff house required 20 fully carved solid teak columns. We priced them in
Australia, U.S.A. and England. The cost being between $4,000 and $4,300 each was out of the question budget wise!
However,
on my overseas buying trip, I visited a small island in Indonesia, I found a family of wood carvers who I gave the job to at a
price of US$426 each. The client, of course, had to pay for freight and some small import costs. We saved him $71,000.
(You will see some of them in one of the photographs which are attached.)
On the same trip, we ordered a container of large
terra cotta pots, which were specially made to our designs. The end result was a very unique project at a fraction of the normal
price, and of course a very happy client.
While on an adventure by canoe up a jungle river in Kalimantan, Borneo we were able to
buy some very old carved wooden “gods” and some magnificent large carved and inlaid wooden ceremonial bowls from the still head
hunting Dyak tribesmen. These and all our other unique architectural collectibles, some of which are hundreds of years old, are
in storage awaiting the right project.
We were very surprised to read recently where Frank Lloyd Wright also amassed a
collection of architectural accessories and decorations that he made available to his clients!
For our French Moroccan Jewish
client, we saved in excess of $100,000 by using one of our sources for just the hand made custom designed wrought iron lamps,
handrails, furniture and screens.
They were for “Villa Marrakesh”, a 3-storey solid brick Sydney house. It has 5 bedrooms and
6 bathrooms on the top floor.
A large combined living and dining room, a Moroccan lounge room, a huge kitchen, a family /
billiard room with inside and outside wet bar, a huge wine cellar, and a fish tank service room and “hospital for the fish”
make up the middle floor. A very large thick glass wall of the fish tank extends along one side of the dining room!
The lower
floor comprises offices, maid’s quarters, sauna and gymnasium. A large marble with wrought iron spiral staircase connects the
floors with a 3-storey chandelier hanging through the centre of it.
The site includes a 4-car garage, and a very large swimming
pool.
We found it beneficial to import all the ceramic roof tiles from France, the light switches from France, and all the
ceramic wall tiles and marble floor tiles from Italy. The client even imported the machine to level and polish the marble floors
, and then sold it at a profit. We imported all the wall coverings inside and out including the paint direct from the overseas
manufacturer.
For another project, “Escalation”, a restaurant / nightclub / disco, I flew around the world on a buying trip.
The owner was amazed at what we saved him in costs. We even imported a custom designed made-to-measure 2 storey granite façade.
It was erected with ease, and it was perfect in dimensions. We brought in marble table-tops, stacking chairs, artificial
greenery, and light fittings including Australia’s first laser light show.
From that project we were engaged to design discos
for “Club Eleganza”, “Disco Ring”, “Aliens” and “Heven” (conversion of a church) in USA.
There is a hidden but very valuable extra benefit in importing exclusive building products for a project. Apart from saving a
lot of money, when you get the completed property valued, the valuer will give you a higher valuation because the property looks
as though it cost considerably more than its actual cost. When you sell, there is no similar building or interior to compare it with.
Again, it will give an impression that it cost more than it actually did!
The 1,100 square meter (110 square) house we designed for our French Moroccan client ended up costing him $800,000, and he sold
it within a year and in a serious property downturn for just under $2,000,000. The happy buyer was overheard at the close of the
auction saying that he considered he “got a bargain, got it for half what it cost!” Our “desperate seller” client was over the
moon! He and we knew he got more than twice what it cost, and the buyer got very good value! It was the result of our efforts,
which provided the profit for the original owner.
Product purchasing service:
We watch newspapers for liquidation auctions! When the Australian manufacturer of top quality
Italian Tecno furniture closed up, we were there picking up bargains. As a result, we have amongst other things, three
magnificent 3 metre diameter boardroom tables which retail for nearly $30,000 available to clients for a tenth of their
replacement value. We can direct import very high-quality porcelain floor tiles for our clients. They sell in China for US$4
per sqm.
During our travels, we are always on the lookout for unusual high-quality products at bargain prices.
At a recent
stopover in Dubai, we met an old Afghan carpet dealer who had just arrived from Afghanistan with a collection to sell. We spent
hours drinking tea with him and talking about the beauty of his people and his homeland.
Geoffrey Fulton told him how much he
enjoyed visiting his country on two occasions, the first being back in 1964 while travelling on a bus between Madras and London
. Back then, he spent a whole day drinking tea before buying 2 carpets from two delightful old dealers in the Kandahar Bazaar.
They got stuffed in the back of the bus along with the boxes of glass beads.
On the next visit, while in Khabul, he purchased a
very old home spun and hand made wool coat, some brass moulds used for traditional jewelry making, and some old jewelry. During
his stay as a guest at the British School of Archeology, he met the Khabul antique dealer, who had supplied the late King of
Denmark with all the furniture and artifacts for his Nuristan Museum.
While at the old Afghan’s son’s carpet shop in Dubai, of
course there was also a lot of talking about his carpet collection! Next morning, he flew out of Dubai with a very unusual and
beautiful old Afghan tribal rug and two camel bags, purchased at a very good price.
One day, in Geelong, we saw a mature silky
oak tree being cut down. We approached the tree-feller and ended up with the main trunk free for the picking up! We arranged
for a client friend to collect it next day, he had it sawn, then stacked in his workshop to dry, and since then it has become
some beautiful pieces of furniture. Cost of the timber? Nothing!
On another occasion, we purchased what had been a massive 10m
long 200-year old iron bark bridge beam, which ended up a magnificent dining room table for a client. The only drawback is that
it took ten men to carry it into the house!
Because of our new contacts and visits to China, we can save heaps on windows, wall
and floor tiles, and any other products.
My partner, Carla, has a very valuable collection of her late father’s carpet and rug designs and some
furniture designs. He was a highly regarded architect in the 30’s, a “product” of the Bauhaus period of architectural schooling.
His designs were only found in 1995 in a trunk and unseen in the attic of Carla’s grandmother’s home, where they were stored
soon after World War II and forgotten. We have just embarked on a project to have a limited edition of some of the rugs made by
hand.
These will be made available to our clients. We also are at the prototype stage of producing very intricate screens and lamps,
at low cost through the latest in computer technology. These are perfect for Middle Eastern / Arabic architecture as well as
very modern architecture.
We have craftsmen all over the world that can produce items at a fraction of local costs.
We have
created some designs for carpets, lamps and screens, which are Frank Lloyd Wright and Rennie Mackintosh in style. We plan to
again create a limited edition of these products for the international market. All we need is time!!
I design all sorts of things including a very small motorcycle which fits in a suitcase. I won an
award on “What will they think of next” for it. I designed a 3 berth fold out caravan which fits on the roof rack of a car, to
very large multiwheel drive motor homes.
I tested the roof top caravan by traveling around the world for three and a half years
living on top of a Mercedes Benz with a self made mini motorcycle strapped on the front of the car, and a large cross country
bike strapped to the back of the car. I towed “Gold Finger”, a high- performance speedboat given to me free of charge for the
promotional value it gained when published in local papers wherever I stopped during my travels. (We have plans available for
do-ityourself construction of the mini-motorcycle and roof top caravan)
My son in USA has just purchased the same model as I
had when travelling the world with the camper on the roof. It is going into a workshop to be broken down then rebuilt as a new
car (1964 Mercedes Benz 220 SE) He will then have a new camper built for the roof of the car, add the 2 motorcycles and purchase
the same model speedboat… they are still available in the UK!
I invented motorized snow skis, applied for patents for aerial
platforms for television cameras at sports events, and a new very fuel-efficient internal combustion engine. We are creative
ideas people!
I won an award in a yacht design competition for a 4-person family yacht which could be “folded up” and slipped
into a 20Ft shipping container and shipped between continents. It saved long and risky trans ocean voyages. After it arrived,
you spend an hour “unfolding” it, then roll it down into the water and you are away, cruising the local waterways and fully
self-contained!
Innovative yacht design interests us. I have done consultancy work on a Mega Yacht for the President of the UAE.
14 Years ago, I was invited to design the exterior styling and the interior of the new mega yacht for Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalid
al Nahyyan, the late President of the UAE.
A very exciting project to be built at a shipyard in Singapore.
The yard was owned
by a delightful couple who had never built a ship. They had previously just done engine repairs on trawlers and the like.
I
originally met them after designing a timeshare yacht which had 16 family cabins. For an outlay of $25,000, you got a cabin for
2 months of every year for life. You would use the cabin for 1 month and let it out for the other month to provide an income
that would cover the total costs of running the ship.
I had all the shareholder partners signed up when out of the blue, a
couple of suited gentlemen turned up at my door to tell me that it was illegal for me to sell timeshares in a yacht. I had to
be able to give “land title” or I couldn’t sell the shares! I had negotiated for the little Singapore yard to build it for us.
The project died! That was a great loss for all of us…. Not just financially!!
The Jabiru Sail-Cruiser project was my
introduction by the yard to the Sheikh’s project. Together we took on this project. All went well, every few weeks I would get
a call that the Sheikh’s lawyer representative was flying in for an inspection. I would have to jump on a plane to get there
for the meeting then fly home after a couple of days.
On two visits he brought orders for the ships new engines to be taken out
and replaced with larger engines. On another occasion the order was to have the ship cut in half and extended in length.
These were all because a friend or two of the Sheikh had ordered bigger ships and so the Sheikh’s ship had to be the biggest
in the region!!
The ship was in the water ready to leave the yard when a 19- year old adopted son of the Sheikh arrived for
the final inspection. He didn’t like the way the sides of the ship tapered inwards towards the stern. He demanded that the ship
be taken out of the water and the sides straightened! Another crazy demand but the client is always right!! It was done!
Anyway,
the little Singapore Yard did a fantastic job of the build, far superior to the famous Yards of Italy who build most of the
private Mega Yachts for the multi rich. That was M.Y. Azzam, now named Adamas 11. There was a dramatic ending to my enjoyable
engagement!
Just before the ship was ready to sail to Abu Dhabi, I saw an advertisement in an international Yacht Magazine
showing the yacht Azzam was for sale. I rang the yard from here to ask what was going on. Everyone was in shock! No-one new
about it.
The Yard brought in top Lawyers. I was whisked up to Singapore to be presented as a potential buyer to catch the
thief. The appointed French broker flew in from Cannes for my initial inspection of the yacht. I had to pretend that I had
never seen this yacht…. that I had designed.
Then, in the luxury Intercontinental Hotel penthouse suite that the lawyers had
put me into, I met the supposed owner of the yacht. He turned out to be the Sheikh’s Lebanese personal business advisor, who
had cleverly worded the ship build contract with the Yard, that had his name as the owner/representative of the Sheikh.
I had a couple of meetings in my suite with this snake of a man, then he disappeared… must have got cold feet or smelt a “rat”.
It ended up with the yacht locked up at the yard until a settlement through the courts.
In the end the Sheikh got his yacht
delivered to the UAE towed on a barge because the Sheikh had to be the first person to sail it. In reality he wasn’t, because
it had already done sea trials.
The ship was housed in a huge floating “garage” and only went to sea a few times in 2 years,
then the Sheikh died, and the ship was legitimately sold! For my efforts in catching this guy and saving the ship for the
Sheikh, I was given a beautiful one-of-a-kind watch that I still wear every day.
Some time ago, in Singapore, we were asked to
design the conversion of an oilrig accommodation barge into a floating hotel.
We provide a complete service. Ideally, we should become involved before the selection of land for a new
development. That way, we can foresee some “traps” which the potential owner may not see, some hidden extra costs related to
one building site as against another site.
We can be of considerable benefit during negotiations with property sellers and
regulatory authorities. We have often prepared feasibility designs for sites, to assist developers, sellers and buyers of sites.
Have you a site?
We are professionals. Behind both of us are many years of architectural and construction training, and in the
field experience for the design, and supervision of construction of new and conversions of all types of buildings.
Our building
field of interest and experience includes residential, commercial, including office buildings, hospitality, entertainment,
industrial and warehouses, prefabricated buildings, timeshare accommodation, restorations, conversions, and interiors….. and
big and little yachts.
We can give advice on expected building costs. Because we do not accept commissions from material
suppliers, our advice is impartial. This cannot always be said where a “project builder” or draftsman is engaged to “design and
construct” a building!
We will not design a building and leave the interior design and landscape design to others, whether they
are amateur designers or professionals.
If graphics are required, 4 years as a creative director and copy writer, and partner in Geelong’s first professional
advertising agency allows us to professionally handle the design ourselves.
There is a lot of work involved in producing good
architecture!
The second of the 4 Luff Houses at Albury required more than 100 sheets of drawings!
When we design a project, at a very early stage, we see it totally completed in our minds, including
furniture and artwork, and fully-grown landscaping. We then complete the design and construction documents to fulfill the
vision we have of the completed project. We strongly believe that you cannot design a building until you have completed the
interior design of all the rooms.
We supervise the construction until completion, then arrange the interior furnishings and
artwork, and the landscaping. For us, there is no other way to achieve the standard of architecture we aspire to.
Residential buildings have more influence on the lifestyle and amenity of the occupiers
than anything else in their lives. The building environment can assist to make life a joy or create misery.
As is the standard practice in the profession of architecture, our fees are based on a percentage of the cost of the
complete project. That percentage varies with the complexity of the building/alteration/interior and is negotiated with the
client before accepting an architectural commission.
Where we provide full services, we are passionate about the project being
completed without the interference of other “consultants”. We are experienced and qualified interior architects, and are
experienced landscape designers, so we provided these extra services without charge!
In any case you will find our rates very
competitive, we still use the scale of fees suggested by the Institute of Architects in 2010. We will guarantee to be
competitive….
We are proud to be able to say that we have been recognized for our design excellence by having won a number of
awards (including yacht design) and having our work published in the media many times.
Recently, Geoffrey Fulton was invited to give an address to the
delegates at the 5th International Convention for Aged Housing, on the subject of “Theme Retirement Villages”.
Your decision:
The decision to engage an experienced, creative designer/professional architectural team for any building project
should be easy and quick to make. The harder question to solve is …. which one?
Architects Fulton + Salomon consider themselves
the ones to consider, because we are professionals with many years of experience in the architectural profession in Australia
and internationally. We are very creative designers having gained international awards for our design work and we provide a
very valuable add-on service, which is unique to ourselves.
What kind of car do you drive?
A Daewoo, a Ford or Holden, a BMW or Merc., a Lamborghini or Rolls Royce?
When you purchased your last car, did you buy the
cheapest car in the market- place?
Or did you consider value for money, what kind of service is provided, the warranty,
the accessories provided and included, and did style and image influence your purchase?
If you are planning to build a new house
, it will be the biggest financial investment you will make that will affect your family’s day to day lifestyle for a very long
time! It’s a far bigger and more important investment than your motor car.
So, I suggest you make the decision on who designs
it for you based on the same criteria that you used to select your car. It shouldn’t be on the basis of “is it the cheapest
design fee I can get?”
There are very big differences between architects and architects, designers and draftsmen. Draftsmen
often make the statement when asked what the difference is between their services and those of an architect: “We provide the
same service but at a fraction of the cost of those of an architect.”
NOT TRUE! It’s the difference between going to a
university- trained medical doctor and a faith healer!
Did you want the best trained and qualified design engineers and
stylists to have designed your car? Then you have the answer to who should design your house. In Germany it is the rule to have
your house designed by a registered architect and not by a draftsman.
Comparing cars with houses, we consider ourselves in
the BMW/Mercedes Benz/Volvo class, unless you have the money to spend on a Lamborghini or Rolls Royce… then we fit into that
category too!
Do you want the design for a collapsible 4 berth caravan fitted to the pack rack of your Mercedes Benz so that
you can travel the world and never have to look for a hotel room? I did that in 1964. Updated drawings are available.
Our work
is innovative and creative, we provide great after sales service, we provide accessories at no extra charge that others don’t
provide and our design is timeless. A few of our references are attached.
Architecture is a very high form of art. The best
architects will be obsessed with providing the highest quality in their creations. You, the client, need to have courage because
the best architects will lead you where you have never been before.
You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these
materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity as at work…. That is architecture. Art enters in.
–Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 1923-
Now: Here endeth the “tell” part of our “show and tell”. If you would like to see the “show” part, our visual presentation
, please give us a call and we will be happy to show you a lot more! We would be delighted to assist you with the creation of
your new and exciting project.
PS: Just a reminder… We now have to live with RES CODE and all its ramifications and all the other new regulations and policies.
Plan to start a project sooner rather than later. We can steer you through the minefield but everything takes longer with
RES CODE and all the other planning regulations… and the individual interpretations of council planning officers and their
so-called superiors in planning committees who all have to be satisfied before you get the go-ahead!!
PPS:
We are not going to ask you to sign a contract with us before you meet us. We will first throw you the
Then when everything is sorted out and you are happy with
your site and the relevant conditions, we will then prepare some concept design for you to consider. After you can see what we
can do for you, we will invite you to engage us for full architectural services.
On your instructions and when
you are ready… even at the end of the virus lockdown or when business gets back to normal, we will proceed to documentation and
permits stage , and supervision / management, Because of the present climate we want to be very flexible for you.
If you go the
AMAZiN HOUSE route, we supply all the modules which can include complete prefinished modular bathrooms.
If for some reason you are not happy with what we present to you, or if you circumstances change that you can’t
go on with your development after the Monkey’s Fist, you can walk away with no further commitment or payment. We as is the norm
retain copyright to all the design.
It’s an old shipping term! The MONKEYS FIST is a rope ball with a steel ball in the center of it. It is
connected to a light- weight rope and is thrown from a ship to the shore when a ship is about to berth. That rope is then pulled
in with a large heavy and strong rope connected to it. The heavy one does the tying up job for the ship, but the Monkey’s fist
is what gets the large rope to the shore! The latest and biggest cruise ships and tankers today still use the Monkey’s Fist.
If you live in Victoria, Australia, you will remember some time ago, a young woman sleeping rough in Melbourne was murdered. I
couldn’t sleep that night after I heard the news. Instead, I lay in bed designing my solution to the problem of people
having to sleep rough.
Still not able to sleep at 4am, I got up and started drawing my Comfort Cubes.
I started with my new
I can get 4 Comfort Cubes, all independent and private sleeping units and a shared bathroom in each module. Each resident has total
privacy from entering their own front door, and enjoying a warm and good night’s sleep. It has a table and stool to sit on for an
Uber delivered meal, they can read a newspaper or write a letter. They have a TV and the use of the full size bathroom alone and
then they get dressed and check out!
The most important thing about my Comfort Cubes is cost.
Each person can be accommodated for a capital cost of less than $8,000.
Just in case someone says that these Comfort Cubes are smaller than Tiny Houses. They are… but they have all one needs for short
term crisis accommodation!
I know from long experience! I travelled the world for 3 ½ years including crossing the Sahara Desert in a Mercedes Benz with a
2.4m X 1.8m tiny house I built on the pack-rack on the roof of the car. I even shared it with a couple of hitch-hikers from time
to time!
Ask anyone who enjoys a holiday in a caravan whether life is uncomfortable? Ask anyone who goes cruising in a yacht whether living
in a small space is “uncomfortable”?
Anyone can live in tiny spaces if they are designed well.
I have just spoken to someone at the local Salvation Army Housing Department who tells me that on average there are 45 persons
homeless of a night (sleeping “rough”) in Geelong.
Where can we put the Comfort Cubes?
The multi storey carpark opposite City Hall is never full (Council advice). With10 car spaces (that are never occupied) we can put 10
Comfort Cube modules …. Each taking up one car space… they are all temporary structures so can be removed at any time if the number
of homeless fall permanently. In those 10 modules you can provide comfortable accommodation for 40 persons! The car park is closed at
night. It’s an empty building so any problems?
Those occupying the accommodation just need to be able to get up the stairs to the roof top!!
The cost will be roughly $250k to accommodate them all. Might have to spend a bit more connecting services to the modules.
If the situation changes to full houses of cars every day, we could design a steel frame to sit over 10 of the cars and place
the accommodation on that level with a stair up.
We would expect that this situation applies all over the world.
Where is the money going to come from?
I’m told by the City of Geelong that they spend $250,000 per year on graffiti clean ups. Take it from the expenditure on
graffiti removal, because I have an idea that might just stop the vandals painting the city with their little “monuments”.
I would give them a legitimate exhibition space where they can be creative and compete with their graffiti art for substantial
annual prizes while it is displayed for the public to see directly opposite the City Hall.
All the graffiti artists in Geelong would be put together to make 12 groups and each group given the “big screen”.
Each group can create their work of graffiti art and it remain on exhibition for that month. They all get a chance to
participate. The works are to be judged annually and the top 3 given very substantial prizes.
If anyone breaks the rules and
starts painting vandal graffiti in an odd place, the cost of removing it will be deducted from the total prizes. The artists
know each other so will know who has broken the rules.
It might just become a tourist attraction. I would expect that $100k of
the $250k might go in prizes to the artists so there will be a shortfall to build the 40 Comfort Cubes but surely $100k can be
financed for 12 months!
Where else is there space to establish this little 10 carspace 40 Comfort Cube self-service motel for the homeless:
At the Showgrounds.
At the waterfront towards Western Beach, along the railway tracks, along the river banks, in any public car parks.
They could be on public school grounds. Remember, this accommodation is only available for use say after 6pm and until 8am.
The residents are not going to have any contact with students.
There is plenty of space at Kardinia Park… only need the area of 10 car spaces!
There is all that land under the “new” river bridge. Then there is the Belmont Common.
Rather than bus them to their “motel”, give them all a Myki card each.
AND in the future, whenever a shopping Centre is built in Greater Geelong, make it a regulation that the developer provide a
number of car spaces in the carpark for Homeless Accommodation Modules. The developers can afford the small extra capital cost
to install them... they make enough $millions out of their developments… give a little back to the community!
We are also concerned about families who are homeless. We have a solution for them too. It’s a bigger “Comfort Cube” of just
36 square metres in area, 6 metres by 6 metres (will easily fit in a backyard as a granny super-flat)
And it also can be owner built in 4 days for a total cost of less than $50,000.
Geelong could soon end up with no-one sleeping rough and maybe even no families without a home! Even further, the city could
establish a social enterprise where young men with no skills could learn to build the Comfort Cubes and so reducing the cost
of them even further.
Not new, we designed SMALLisSMART little houses in 20 ft shipping containers that were built the same way by the Australian
Charity Group Try Australia as a social enterprise.
It can be done in Melbourne, and Geelong so it can be done throughout Australia….. and the world. Its just that the numbers
will be different!
If you are involved in social housing, we believe that we have the product for you and those that you are generously assisting.
We have AMAZiN HOUSE models that cost wise, no-one can compete with.
They all function very well, are certainly fit for purpose, they provide very comfortable accommodation for the residents of them.
The least expensive model is the Comfort Cube. (There is a page on these on this website). They are designed to crisis accommodate men who have been sleeping rough for as little as A$8,000 each + service connections and freight to site. They are designed to provide very comfortable overnight accommodation.
Then they get bigger in size and provide more space for those that are going to spend more time in them. The larger ones are for families.
Recently a charity group in Geelong, Samaritan House has made public that they are going to spend A$1,200,000 of donated funds on 7 little very expensive luxury houses, each to accommodate 1 man who is transitioning from rough sleeping, through living in crisis accommodation into short term accommodation. That cost does include some site works .... we are told landscaping and drainage!!!
Our understanding is that each little 28 sq. m. luxury “chalet” will cost just under $100,000.
We were presented with the plans of the proposal and advised of the costs and went into shock! So we came up with an alternative that is very close to what they are having built... we think much better... and we have had it costed at $65,000 for a slightly larger house. That would be a total cost for 7 of our houses being $455,000. Then add on the $200,000 they plan to spend on “site works” and you have a total figure of $655,000. We say that they are spending $545,000 that could go towards accommodating every man sleeping rough in the Geelong area and there would still be some change left over.
But that costing is using conventional construction.
Then we looked at the exercise using our exclusive AMAZiN HOUSE technology.... same rooms but a little smaller.... still functioning as well though! The number we have come up with is under A$50,000 per house. That’s half the price of the Samaratin House little “chalets”
That $545,000 could go towards our little AMAZiN HOUSE family units to accommodate some of the many women with kids currently sleeping in their cars on a secure church owned site. Why aren’t women and single parent families not being catered for? We could probably provide houses to accommodate 9 families with that $545,000.
So, if you are in the field of needing or supplying social housing at a low cost yet with quality construction and comfortable accommodation, get in touch with our design team... we work pro bono on charity projects. We already have many designs, and if you want something special, we will look at it for you as we did for a Newcastle charity group wanting some specially designed accommodation for some vulnerable young girls.
On this page, you will see the Samaritan House plan (designed by Deakin University students and obtained by us from the public domain), our alternative proposal, and our AMAZiN HOUSE alternative.
You will also see some other family houses and the Newcastle project that we can produce for you no matter where you are in the world. They are so easy to build that the occupants could build them themselves with just a spanner and a screw driver. (They will still have to bring in professionals to provide plumbing , and electrical services.)
Each 6m X 3m module takes less than 2 days to assemble by 2 unskilled persons.
If by chance you are involved in caring for youths that need assistance, we suggest starting a social enterprise where the kids can be taught to build our little AMAZiN HOUSDES houses and Comfort Cubes and so get themselves jobs in the building industry. We assisted Melbourne Charity group TRY AUSTRALIA establish a similar social enterprise building our UNO AMAZiN HOUSES.
Welcome to the world of AMAZiN HOUSES!
For more than 50 years, Geoffrey Fulton has been designing and building all sorts of things. When he was 10 years of age,
he built a caravan to hook behind his Billy cart, it was framed in timber and sheeted with hessian to keep it light for when he
had to push his rig uphill before riding it down.
In the years after graduating in Architecture, he has designed and built many houses, tiny houses, million plus dollar mansions,
restaurants and world’s first discos to national headquarters for international cosmetic and fashion companies.
He has won awards for unusual things like a house boat that fits in a shipping container to enable a family to safely cruise
the world without doing long ocean voyages to get from one continent to another.
He designed and built a little motorcycle that was constructed in a small aluminum suit case for travelling on airlines but
would open up on arrival, his bags going into the now empty suitcase body of the bike to take him to his hotel. It won an award
on the ABC’s TV show “What will they think of next?”. He used it to get from the city of Amman in Jordan down to the Dead Sea
where he worked on a famous excavation site.
He invented the first free to use international mobile phone.
While in Singapore negotiating the construction of a large timeshare cruising yacht he had designed and promoted, he was invited
to design the presidential yacht for the president of UAE.
(If the thought of owning a share in a world cruising mega yacht appeals to you… get in touch because we are considering bringing
that project to life!)
And he designed and built and lived for three and a half years in a teeny weeny house on the pack rock of his car.
After travelling from India to Germany by the famous Indiaman bus back in 1964, Geoffrey Fulton picked up a new finny Mercedes
Benz at the factory in Sindelfingen then headed north to the beautiful university city of Munster where he built his house on
top of the car.
It was no ordinary house! During the 3 months journey on the bus, he had time to design all the details. It of
course had a kitchen sink, a shower fed by a garden spray bottle with water heated on his little camping gas stove.
It even had a Porta Potti.
The 2.4m X 1.8m house accommodated 3 people, him and up to two hitch-hikers. While building it at his new engineering friend’s
workshop, he fitted a rack on the front of the car to hold a cut down Velo Solex specially for round-town getting around and a
rack on the rear for a full size Bultaco off road bike for country exploring.
No matter where he was, he always had his
appropriate transport.
For instance, he parked the car outside John Lewis’ Department Store in London for 3 months…. Got hundreds of parking tickets
but because the car had German tourist plates, he couldn’t be traced! The same happened when he lived on the Champs Elysees
for some weeks leaving the car there all day and off cruising on one of the bikes.
His road journey of discovery of ancient and historic architecture around the world lasted three and a half years. The Merc
never missed a beat, thankfully serviced free of charge by Rudi Ulenhaupt, head of research and racing division of Mercedes
Benz because they could test new equipment on it because it was always overloaded with gear and being driven in some extreme
conditions.
On a visit to the London boat show, Geoffrey negotiated a deal where he swapped a sapphire he had bought at a Ceylon market
jewelers for a new “Goldfinger” speedboat. The boat builder either discounted the price of the boat greatly or paid a hugely
inflated price for the gem because he wanted the publicity the boat would get behind the Merc in newspaper articles.
While at the show, an engineer at the BP stand offered him $10000 to drive his car from London to New York. They would build a
cat hull and mount the car on it, water cool the gearbox and differential so that they wouldn’t overheat. The offer was very
tempting and considered but knocked back because Geoffrey gets seasick!!
A young journo found him getting ready for bed parked under Marble Arch in London. She introduced him to the photo agency she
worked for and from then on, Geoffrey took his own photos and sent them back to Picturepoint creating for himself a steady income for everyday living. His photos appeared in encyclopedias, record covers and magazines.
The lifestyle proved to him that you can live very happily and comfortable in tiny spaces as long as they are well designed!
The faithful Merc took him from as near to the North Pole as you can drive to across the Sahara desert with the only problem
being tires blowing out on the superhot roads in the desert. But with the motorcycles, they could get their own replacements
and from then on only drive at night.
Morocco was fascinating for its ancient to present day evolving architecture. High in the Atlas Mountains were huge and
magnificent rammed earth multi storey houses built over generations and centuries. No glass windows, just small openings
with beautiful wrought iron security grilles.
Super thick walls provided a comfortable climate inside…no need for air cons!! All had secure high court yard walls, beautifully
tiled decorative paved areas, crystal clear water bubbling out of the ground into water courses and ponds surrounded by fruit
and nut trees and vegetable gardens.
Wouldn’t we all like to live like that today? All your food needs organic and at your back door… 2 minute fresh!!
As the houses would decay over time, a new wing was extended onto one end. That process continued over generations. The livable
houses literally moved along the road with the youngest generation up front and the oldies in the decaying part, never quite
catching up!
What a great way to live but alas, our town planners wouldn’t allow us to live so!
“Don’t get me started on planning regulations
and greedy land sub dividers!”
If you would like to learn about a new way in a new kind of village, then click on “Darling…”at the site index. We are working on a number of new village projects to provide the ultimate lifestyle at a very reasonable cost.
After leaving Africa at Tunis, Geoffrey headed to Russia again when he heard that cheap diamonds were on the market. This was
during the cold war!
Got there to find that there were no diamonds but while visiting the rest rooms at Bolshoi Ballet, he was accosted by some
students who wanted to buy anything that he had from the west and they wanted to sell very Old Russian icons (religious paintings) and old crystal glasses and other antiques.
Big prices could be gained for jeans, ball point pens and girls bras. The Russian bra model was conical with spiraling
stitching, making breasts look like clothed ice cream cones!! With some excellent favors and deals done, he headed for the
border at Viborg.
On arrival he was directed to a parking bay away from the customs station where a major search of the car and house on top took
place. All his precious icons were discovered. Useless and valueless in Russia because religion was banned but it was illegal to
export them. That resulted in a few extra nights “accommodation” then being told “you can leave now on the motorcycles because
we are confiscating the car.”
That brought the world journey to an abrupt end and so it was back to Australia to open the architectural studio.
Apart from designing many buildings since then, there has been in 1987, the conversion of a sailing cargo ship into a sailing
passenger ship. Geoffrey found the ship for sale in West Indies, found a buyer, then negotiated a $1m+ contract with the
Australian Bi-centenary Company for the ship to become one of the fleet sailing the re-enactment voyage to Australia.
Unfortunately the new owner of the ship didn’t take Geoffrey’s advice to have the conversion done at his favorite Singapore
yard but instead took the job to the Ship yard at Portland run by the painters and Dockers union. You guessed it, they only
half completed the conversion before the ship was to sail to the UK to join the fleet. The big contract was lost and Geoffrey
and the owner crept into the closed yard over Easter and stole their ship and sailed it round to Melbourne where he supervised
and worked on completing the build just in time to sail it to Sydney and see the fleet sail in!!
A few years ago he won an award for a shipping container based family cruising yacht design. The yacht “folded up” would slide
into a container, be transported by container ship on long voyages, then be taken out and within an hour dropped into the water
and the family go off local cruising, safe not having to make long, time consuming and dangerous ocean voyages.
While on a trip to Albania to look on ancient Roman spas and cheap Mercedes sports car there, Geoffrey planned to come home via
London.
“Wonder what happened to Carla, the beautiful girl I met at the start of my journey in Munster who showed me around her interior
architecture school?”
He wrote a card to her parent’s old address and found her. Long story short, she is now his partner and the interior architect
on the
UPDATE: Geoffrey’s son Shaun has found a replica matching white Merc that has been hidden away under blankets for 40 years.
It’s only down 5400 miles… still brand new but or the flat tires. It’s now going to replace the expedition car that we tried to
find in Russia unsuccessfully.
Construction will soon start on the new Teeny Weeny house on its roof and the search is on for the Velo Solex and Bultaco
replacements. We know that Goldfingers are still being produced.
So keep a look out, you might just see the rig go by one day soon! The driver will appreciate a wave or “Hello!”!!
Grab a lettuce out of the tray above the fish tank; there should still be some potatoes growing under the straw behind the second bedroom...... I need two! What else do I need? ..... a couple of tomatoes, a handful of snow peas.... they should be ripe now. And checkout the chickens... I need a couple of eggs for your potato salad.
Do you feel like a trifle for dessert tonight? If so, I need one of each of the varieties of fruits growing on the fruit salad trees on the nature strip, and a good handful of strawberries off the vertical pipe gardens.
You know I picked up 8 ripe passionfruit off the ground yesterday and 14 the day before? See if there are any there today and I’ll make another batch of passionfruit curd to have with our yoghurt.
AND Darling! ...would you turn the garden picking disc from red to green..... we are in “oversupply”..... can’t eat all we are producing in the garden so neighbours can start picking or exchanging whatever they would like. The word around the village is that restricting people to picking and taking only what they can carry in their hands is working very well.
Today the body corporate VVP News arrived in the letter box .... lot of things happening this week!
It’s the grand opening of our Social Enterprise the School of Artisan Food this month. There will be 30 full time students in each of the bakery, and the cheese factory. They will be at our farm for 3 months and then another group will start their training. Apparently about a third of them are young refugees. This should give them opportunities for good jobs and a good start in life in Australia. The Enterprise is patterned on the school of the same name in Norwich, England. If all goes to plan, it will be expanded to include a chocolaterie, a small good butchery, and a farm school where our retired farmers will enjoy sharing their long and valuable experiences.
We and members of the public will also be able to attend the courses. There are some terrific courses listed… I want to attend some… the Introduction to Sour Dough Baking, Pate and Terrines, Historic Pies with Ivan Day, Historic Ices with Ivan Day, Sprouted Grains and Baguettes, and Foraging for Wild Food. I think they’ll be fun and you’ll enjoy my new kitchen capabilities!
That will give a lot of our retired farmers something to do including passing on all that knowledge and experience they have. (Ref: www.theschoolofartisanfood.com)
The Patisserie and Bakery will be attached to the artisan food school....it’s going to be called “the Bread Winner”... clever name! We are going to be spoilt with real fresh French baguettes delivered every morning as well as the artisan breads and delicacies from the school bakery!
I’d presumed that the 2 tubes fixed under our letter box were for 2 different newspapers or one for junk mail. It’s obvious now that one is for our morning baguette delivery. Clever planning by the architects!
And those beautiful cakes that I can imagine won’t be good for my middle.... or yours!
There is an article in the News about the left over bread from the School of Artisan Bread and The Bread Winner going to the Isle of Dogs where it will be turned into a wonderful tasting Belgium style beer. That’s food recycling isn’t it! A first for Australia.
Our new restaurant is going to open before Xmas! The architects found a fabulous collection of lithographs of native plants produced by Sir Joseph Banks… He was the botanist on Captain Cook’s voyages. They are going to be used to decorate the room and they are calling the restaurant “Sir Joseph Banks”. Pretty toffy! The architects already have a model of Cook’s ship, the Endeavour which will be part of the interior decoration.
The weekend after next is grape picking festival so we must be home. Have you noticed how full of fruit our vines are this year? Darling!... Let’s invite a few friends over to help with the harvest and enjoy the event. Then you’d better talk to your mates about getting together to make our wine.
Remember how everyone thought we were crazy to try to grow two varieties one low along the wires and the other on the extra high wires we strung up... both have fruited well. It’s going to be interesting to see how our crop with less direct sunlight to the grapes compares with David’s single variety at standard height next door.
In the end if we don’t see a benefit or we decide the grapes are too difficult to pick....Darling! Can’t have you falling off a ladder...., then we can pull out the high level vines and replace them with passionfruit that will fall off the vines when they ripen. All we have to do is pick them up off the ground.
On Saturday, the Drone Racing Club is having its first event at the Middle Paddock. They are inviting anyone to try flying a drone. Give it a go… your flying experience… I know it’s long ago… should make you a budding champion! I believe that Uber are going to fly in one of their new commercial passenger drones to our drone landing site this coming Saturday... we should get some good publicity out of that event!! Again the architects did a good job thinking ahead by including the landing facility at the farm.
Darling!....I’ve already designed a new label for this year’s vintage... with some gold embossing. It is suited to the new slim bottles that are in fashion. I’m now designing our new beer and cider bottle labels.
Are we going to make batches of apple and pear ciders this year? If so, I’d better not give away all the fruit that we don’t eat! You had better make a booking for time at our brewery.
Our two multi grafted lemon / lime/ grapefruit “fruit salad” trees are loaded this year. Why don’t we get together with the neighbours and make a batch of Limoncello at the new distillery at the Isle of Dogs? They have nearly finished installing it…. Apparently looks amazing …all polished copper and stainless steel… Came from Stuttgart. Better make a booking ‘cause I think it’s going to be a popular place. After we have finished it, could we all have dinner next door at Little Jock’s Pub?
There was also an interesting article in the VVP News about our community policy to give away our spare fruit and vegetables. It’s an ancient pre-biblical day practice where the farmers of the day always left a corner of their fields not harvested.
They invited the community to pick the remaining crop and take it for their own benefit... often saved them from starving!
The practice is called “gleaning”. Did you see on the TV news that the farmers in Guatemala are doing the same thing. There are so many people there that are starving!!
I also read where our medical clinic is going to start exercise sessions where everyone must be without shoes and it’s going to be outside on the grass... two days a week. Apparently the way we all live now, our bodies are electrically charged which is really bad for our health.
It causes inflammation and the platelets in our blood to clog together and so not flow smoothly and easily through the veins and arteries. When your feet or any part of your body touches the ground for a while, the electric charges are earthed. The platelets all separate and then flow smoothly. Reduces angina attacks and heart attack risk considerably! And you feel more relaxed and sleep better! Wouldn’t that be good?
We should join the classes.
By the way did you notice how sweet and full of flavour your poached pullet’s eggs were this morning. We should have them every day for about a month from now.
They make the ultimate poached eggs!
See where the village is in talks with a TV production company about creating a River Cottage type show here.... that would be fun... and great publicity for our town! The kids will get a kick out of seeing their grandad feeding the pigs on TV...eh? Me and the girls should go for a kitchen segment... not fair for only you guys to become big TV stars.
I wonder if we could entice Billie from last year’s Master Chef to come up and run our restaurants? It might appeal to her....particularly if we could pull off the TV show! She’s a country girl...come off a farm!
They have completed the research into the quality of the water under this part of the country. Now they are investigating the possibility of a boutique bottled mineral water and soft drink plant. Imagine being able to give the grandkids soft drinks that aren’t full of sugar. Town planning might not like it, but why couldn’t it be claimed as an agricultural enterprise… it comes out of the ground and being as pure as it is, there will be no processing on site. Maybe it could be another social enterprise… certainly a need for healthy bubbly drinks!
It’s your farm body corp meeting again tomorrow night. You might hear some news on progress! I went past our big farm the other day... It’s looking fantastic .... all the animals look so healthy. Why don’t you suggest that they have a competition to come up with a name for the big farm.... something that sounds nice!!
Darling!...Ask when are the big black pigs going off to the butcher? Don’t forget to place our order! And let’s try some goat.... apparently tastes a bit gamey... but has the least cholesterol of any meat. I’ll ask Butcher Bernard how to cook it.
This morning I saw Jim (the farm manager) unloading our 6 new lamas into the big paddock. I had to stop and meet them. What beautiful and friendly animals!
Jim said that our 10 rare breed Gotland sheep arrive next Saturday from the only breeder in Australia. It is believed that the breed goes back to the Vikings that used them for meat and their hides for the ships’ crews to wear. They are also very friendly! Their wool is really unusual... silver to very dark charcoal with a beautiful soft feel, ideal for home spinning, weaving and felting. Great that you can wear it against your skin not like some of the jumpers that I have!
We will spend a bit of time closer up to them when it’s our turn for them to graze in our little vineyard. Very clever that they have developed a muzzle which allows them to graze on the grass but unable to get to the vine leaves. They will reduce the need for bringing a tractor through to cut the grass and do the spraying. Our little.... og geese and guinea fowl will keep the insects and weevils down.
You know it felt so nice to have some animals around me.... felt like I was back on our farm. I’m sure others are going to enjoy looking out their windows to see open paddocks and animals grazing. It will bring back very comforting feelings when I know that quite a few found it hard to leave their farms to come into town even to this wonderful village.
I’m so glad we didn’t buy into that ordinary retirement village that we first looked at! There’s a report in the VVP News about a guy whose mother lived in one of those Islands of Misery until she died. He was locked into selling her house through the village developer, they took 20% of the sale price in deferred payments and it took him 8 years to receive the payout because it took them that long to sell it...... to the right buyer!!! Thank God none of that occurs here....eh, Darling!
I met Jenny and Rosey at the FruitZoo yesterday after tennis at the local club. I had a Berry Banger and they both had Strawberry Stingers., and we shared a vanilla slice.....could have eaten the whole one m’self.... it was so creamy!
Jenny has just started a part time job as a journo at the VVP News.... we will get all the gossip before it hits the press from Jenny now!
She told me that VVP Body Corporate has found a real Italian gelato maker coming to take on the” Frozen Assets” ice cream bar. She had a copy of the menu he is offering....I can see the grandkids dragging us up there... I’ll enjoy the tiramisu with a coffee, you can enjoy “Any 5 scoops out of 50 varieties for $5”.
Our nursery is advertising free tomato plants and pumpkins.... better get some tomatoes. I’ve been studying how to grow them... quite an art... can’t just dig a hole and throw them in it! Why don’t we add a pumpkin to our garden nature strip... I love the way they grow and meander off to somewhere then decide to create a big orange pumpkin!! Remember the pumpkins we saw in the courtyard of the Caudalie spa and winery when we were in Bordeaux. (Caudalie was the resort winery that inspired the architects to design this village!)
On Wednesday, it’s my spa day with the girls at the Noble House. Why don’t you go over to the Men’s Shed for a drink and gossip? Take that chair over with you and mend that wonky leg for me.
I read that an application has been made to seed the pond with Murray Cod. John was a keen fisherman wasn’t he? The two of you could spend an hour or two catching our dinner without depleting our own supply.
What do you think about me taking on a part time job managing the car pool bookings while Mary’s away for 6 months having her baby. Apparently it can be done from home ... it’s all automated via the computer. I’d be finished just before we want to head off again with the caravan, and next time we go to Sydney I can make sure that we don’t miss out on reserving the Roller.... Perhaps I should buy you a tartan deerstalker so you look the part when driving .... a ROLLS ROYCE... or would you feel too “toffy”?
Perhaps we could talk the car pool body corp into buying one of those Polaris Slingshot sports trikes that I saw on TV yesterday. Super sleek and apparently they go like stink! I want to drive it if they get one. They could replace the Mazda Sports with it.
Next time we travel, let’s talk to AIRBNB about renting the house out while we are away.... Should nearly cover all our travel expenses while away!”
Gees.... Darling! Nearly burnt your chips... that’s what happens when we girls get talking too much while making dinner... get distracted!!
It’s such a nice evening I think we will have it outside on the terrace. What’s your drink tonight? OUR beer, wine or pear or apple cider?... I notice we are down to the last 3 bottles of cider... good that we are soon to make a new batch!” With the distillery coming on stream soon, I will be able to add a gin and tonic for you!
Oh! Forgot to tell you… Got a call from the village admin office… our free little electric 3 wheeled HOLDON is going to be available for pick up in 5 weeks time. We have to tell them what colour we want it painted. We can have two tone green, yellow, orange, silver or black. I’d like it silver!
I met Terry and Marg at the Fruit and Veg Exchange. They are planning their next Round Australia trip… It’s going to be their 4th time. The Round Australia Club has a fleet of 27 RVs heading off in 6 weeks time. Marg said that the next convoy will leave in early May. Let’s join that one…… we will be away for 3 months. Between now and then you will have plenty of time to complete the refurb of our van….. won’t you?
Why don’t you put a rack on the back so that we can take our little Holdon with us. Being a 3 wheeler, it will be street legal. Much more convenient for getting around towns rather than driving the big van all the time. And…. Much easier to park!
We mustn’t forget to go down to the marina on Saturday, it’s the last cruise for the charter boat. Should we make a couple of reservations. What about asking Pete and Marg if they would like to join us. It leaves at 10am and is going to cruise to Port Fairy where we will all have lunch at the new Mexican steak house in the old bank building. We will be back at the Marina at 5pm.
Our village bus is going down to the marina leaving here at 9.30am and will bring us back.
Only $40 each for the day including a steak lunch. Morning and afternoon tea / coffee on-board! That’s a great deal!! Hope the weather will be fine! Perhaps I should check before making the bookings!
Next Tuesday night is our big community meeting. The agenda is in the News.
One item is the decision to keep annually chartering the fishing boat or do we have one built fit for purpose?
Our village architect back in 1988 had a large sailing cargo ship that he found laid up in the West Indies sailed across to Portland where they converted it into a sailing passenger ship to his design. It was to be one of the fleet doing the 1st Fleet Reinactment voyage from Portsmouth to Sydney.
He also designed a megayacht for the President of the UAE.
He has designed a sail powered fishing and cruising boat for us to consider. Would be good to support the local boatbuilders, and our village infrastructure fund has $1.2m in it so we can afford it.
Also in the News was that our community currency Kangakoin has climbed to $1.26. So everything we buy using it provides us with a discount of 21 cents in the dollar!There are some shops in the town starting to accept it.
Not to be sneezed at....eh?"
What you have just read could be the conversation in your house in your farmers’ vineyard village if we could get approval to build it at an ideal location in your area.
This is the concept for a unique 3 generational eco residential community catering especially for active retiree farmers, as well as people from all generations. It is planned to be developed on an Edgar Street property at Portland. This is to be the ultimate living location surrounded by edible vegetation and part ownership of your own vineyard.
There is also a captive market of more than 50,000 Australians who will be attracted to this village concept! We don’t need many of them to fill this little village!!
The Retirement Village Industry.
We will not be involved in any of the unethical practices of most of the industry. We will not even use the “Retirement” word!
We want this first village to be a World’s Best, and the best in Australia and to provide as many benefits as possible for those living in it.
Having scaled back on all their personal effects, now their new houses in the village can be rented out while the owners travel.
Everything to be planted in the village will have to be edible.... to be shared by the residents / visitors and community.
All the trees on nature strips etc. will be fruit trees. With the help and advice from staff at Burnley Horticultural College and a number of commercial fruit growers, we have been able to calculate that the village and our planned associated farm can produce in excess of $1m worth of edible produce per year, much more than a regular farm of the same acreage. This is to a significant extent because we will have the residents being most of the farm hands.
Of course there will be full time professional staff in charge of the operation of the viticulture, horticulture, agriculture and aquaponics and we will attract many WWOOFers as farm hands. They will share their time between the Portland Village and our vineyard farm.
We argue that this justifies our having many people owning the farm when they can produce far more food than if no-one was living on the property. We know it goes against government policy … but the proof is in the pudding! Most farms of the same size as our village farm would be lucky to make $50k a year. They did a study of all the farms on the Bellarine Peninsular a few years ago. Only one farm produced enough income for the owners to survive on. All the others had to have secondary jobs.
We are being told that eventually we will have to live “more locally”. For instance we will not be able to bring asparagus from Mexico and Peru, cherries from USA, fruit and vegetables from all over the world.
The pollution caused by transport vehicles over long freight distances and costs of fuel won’t allow it. Diseases like the current Coronavirus will reduce dramatically the importation of fresh food from foreign countries.
This development will be world’s first to address this problem by growing our own organic fruit and vegetables on site.
A respected British architect on a recent lecture tour in Australia said: “We have to look back to go forward!” That is what we have done. In very early times, people congregated and created villages around places where there was clean water available, where they could grow food, where they could be secure, and the location was attractive.
Isn’t that all we want today? It’s the same criteria that we use in selecting a location for one of our proposed villages.
The architect experience relatives persuaded to leave their lives on the farm and move into a conventional retirement village. They both suffered until the days they died.
The situation prompted him to investigate the possibility of provided a different environment for retiring farmers who couldn’t remain on their properties until they were “carried out in boxes”!
Yes, there are many farmers who look to that future unrealistic as it may be!!
The thought is comforting I guess!
16 Years research in Australia and overseas has culminated in this concept.
The architects, themselves looking for where to retire in the future, came to the conclusion that there was only one “lifestyle” that they would find attractive and acceptable and that was by designing their own village.
So was born the “Vineyard Village” concept.
We want residents, whether they reside in the village for a month, twelve months, or never leave the site to get to know each other and find back lost social values: neighbourhood communication, sharing interests and activities, and helping each other. It’s a modern version of many beautiful small very old Southern European villages. It’s what is lacking in big residential subdivisions.
It will attract the general community for day visits and tourists who will provide wide interaction. There will be no opportunity for boredom!
Activities will not be created to keep people artificially busy but rather connect to normal life which will be enhanced by the expected visitors.
How good is this concept?
Everyone who has had it described to them has said: “Fantastic! Where do I sign up?”
THE SITES
At this stage we have identified a number of sites. Ideally, the sites needed will be of approximately 200+ acres, but now we are looking at a small site for the residential village with some open space for “small” farming and a separate larger site for the “real” farm activities. This allows for approximately 140 lots in the residential village. This way we resolve the planning regulation problem of people living on farms!
TOWN PLANNING
It is essential that councils understand that this type of development with residential village and farm combined with so much of the land used for farming cannot be established on residential zoned land. It is too expensive to buy to make the development viable. The difference in buying price, farm zoned to residential zoned, provides the funds required for all the infrastructure we have planned.
VITICULTURE
The village will have its own winery and micro-brewery / cider factory/ distillery to cater for all thirsts.
Those at the village will have the opportunity to learn how to make wines, beers, ciders, and spirits starting from picking the fruit down to gluing their own” private labels” onto their bottles.... for drinking, giving as gifts or for selling at the Farmers Market on the site. During the grape picking season, some residents may be away! Their share of the labour for picking will be handled by paid staff, WWOOFers or other village residents.
Discussions have taken place to engage a well-recognized wine maker to teach our people how to make their wine. The same situation will apply to the micro-brewery/ cider factory in that we have talked to brewers at Ballarat University.
There is also the possibility of establishing a small distillery where the lemons grown in the village can be turned into Limoncello.
ONE IN EVERY STATE
Eventually we would like to see one of our Vineyard Villages closer to each city, state capital in Australia, New Zealand and across the world so that the residents can exchange homes for periods of the year…. a bit like time sharing or home exchange. We have identified sites in USA and want them in Europe. There is potential to roll out this concept worldwide because the way of life in the village is universally attractive and unique.
IT WILL BE 3 GENERATIONAL
This village will also have a few children running around and enjoying the facilities to be provided. Not all residents in Australia are retirees! AND...this generation is the first in human history to segregate older people from younger ones..... it’s un-natural.
CARS
We want to produce a very small solar powered 2 seater car that will be attached to each house lot. It will be an “improved” mobility scooter that seats two persons. It will look so cool and be so low in cost that everyone will want to own one! They will get one.... one to every house in the village.
Geoffrey Fulton, over a period of 40 years has designed and built a number of fold-up mini motorcycles which he travelled overseas with. One of them powered by a Swedish chainsaw engine won an award on the ABC inventors program, “What will they think of next”.
We are already beyond preliminary discussions with a European car designer, and Prof. Zhu Wang who heads the Aero Space Division of RMIT. RMIT have offered to build the prototype of the 3-wheeled car. Its going to be called the HOLDON. It will be similar but smaller than the Elio, a new American 3 wheeler that will hit the market next year. Already thousands have placed orders with deposits for Elios. We envisage a small car assembly plant being established locally to assemble the cars. We think it would be a great marketing incentive if we gave away one of these little cars to everyone buying a lot in the village.
The village will also have a car pool of Minis to Mercs, Renaults to Rollers for longer distance travel. A village body Corp will control the low cost renting of these vehicles.
THE HOUSES
AMAZiN HOUSES created by the architects will all be high quality, all architect designed..., and to be on-site built with components trucked to the site. For those wanting something different in design, the architects will provide a custom service. A team of 4 men will arrive from the factory and have each house fully erected in 2 weeks only! The benefits to the residents will be huge! All houses will be 7½ star energy rated.
We will cater for the residential needs of all the community... especially for single women.
A GATED COMMUNITY
The estate will be 2 gated. The main gate will be open all day and closed at night. Residents will have automated control of the gates.
MEN’S SHED / CRAFT CENTRE
We propose a very well appointed men’s shed / carpentry shop. This will be modelled along the lines of the House of Guilds at the Geelong College. A craft room will have equipment for pottery making and slumped glass.
THE CHAT ROOM
Of course the women have to be catered for with a get-away ...time-out room.
THE PONDS
At the village and the farm, we will create a number of large settling ponds where all stormwater will be collected and used for watering of vegetation / vines. Perhaps it can be seeded with edible fish? A very dense bamboo forest will be planted around one pool and walking tracks created thru the forest. More food and timber for furniture making!
SPORTS FACILITIES
We will support the local lawn bowling green, swimming pool, and tennis courts rather than establish our own at the village. However this village will be controlled entirely by the residents. If they decide they want their own bowling greens or tennis courts etc., and the community is prepared to pay for them, they can have anything.
THE COMMUNITY POTAGER
In a number of locations, there will be an area put aside for an organic vegetable garden. It will be prepared each season by the farm staff or WWOOFers and looked after by the residents / travellers who will all have the right to the healthy vegetables.
FRUIT TREES
Throughout the village there will be fruit trees along the sides of the streets, pomegranates, figs, apples, pears. Nature strips will be planted with rhubarb, artichokes and other decorative but edible vegetables.
Each lot will be allocated 2 fruit salad tree, one apple/nectarine/peach, and the other a variety of citrus. There will be a raised vegetable / herb bed over a fish tank at the front of each residential lot. The waste from the fish provide the fertilizer for the vegetation via aquaponics. Passionfruit and kiwi vines will grow on the north and west walls of the houses to protect the house from the direct sun’s rays in the Summer. This will support the insulation requirements and reduce the need for air-conditioning.
CONTROLLING THE PICKING OF VEGETATION.
One could expect problems where residents and visitors pick fruit from the nature strip and residents’ front gardens. Conspicuous on the letter box at each residence, we will display a red or green disc. When the disc is turned to green, anyone is welcome to pick fruit and vegies off the lot or nature strip. If it’s red.... it’s no go! But only what you can hold in your hands!!
We ”stole” this idea from the Cafe De Brazil in Orlando, Florida. It’s a restaurant where different meats are all grilled over open flames. Waiters roam around the room with long spears of different meats. Each patron has a disk with red one side and green on the other. Turn the disk to green and the waiter will stop and carve you off some of the particular meat that is on his skewer. If your disk is red side up on the table, he will pass you by!
THE NOBLE HOUSE
The writer has made an extensive study of ancient and recent day spas all over the world. This NOBLE HOUSE will provide Vinotherapy and Thalasso therapy in a unique building modelled on an old Tonkin Palace. We have recently had face to face meetings with a visiting Japanese roof tiler who has offered to bring a team of tilers and the hand-made tiles for the Noble House roof!!
Attached to the spa will be a medical clinic specialising in the treatment of cardiac / diabetes and obesity using traditional and alternative medicine.
THE GYMNASIUM
It will be a multi-purpose room that can also be used as a theatre, and kitchen demonstration / classroom.
RIVER COTTAGE
We propose to talk to TV producers about the possibility of having a television show similar to River Cottage produced around life in the village.
COMMERCIAL ACCOMMODATION
We have designed a self-service motel to provide low cost accommodation mainly for visitors of the residents. This way, residents don’t have to extra bedrooms in their homes. There will also be accommodation even cheaper for WOOFers and other visitor and long term farm staff.
WHAT ELSE DO WE WANT TO OFFER?
1. An artists’ studio and an artist-in-residence, provided with free accommodation in return for teaching our village community how to draw and paint.
2. The wireless broadband connections to all homes will be the fastest locally and beyond.
3. All homes and other buildings in the village will be connected to a low cost community hydronic heating and cooling system.
4 A number of social enterprises:
* Young farmers hub, The retired farmers can train young people in preparation for them to eventually own their own farms and be well prepared for the jobs involved.
* An organic food school based on a similar and very successful one in Norwich, England. This will bring visitors to the location who will stay for some days supporting local accommodation businesses.
*Training centre for young kids/ refugees wanting to get into the building industry. They will learn as they build small relocatable house modules for the homeless in the state. We have experience in the setup of this kind of venture.
We have developed a new modular housing construction system AMAZiN HOUSES. In one of these 6m X 3m modules we can provide 4 separate sleeping pods and a shared bathroom / laundry. A module sells for just under $13k and takes 2 men only 2 days to assemble with just a spanner and a screw driver..
WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE LOCAL COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY?
Those living at the village don’t need jobs. They are cashed up, willing and able to spend in the community.
They will patronize local service providers.... hairdressers, accountants, doctors, vets, motor mechanics, dressmakers. They will provide 100s of jobs short and long term, and not take any local jobs.
Cashed up residents / tourists will spend in the town at all the retail outlets.... and theatres.
There will be jobs in the village.... starting with all the construction staff.
Once construction of the residential village and the farm is completed. there will be a need for gardeners, food outlet staff, ice cream makers, organic bread-makers, butchers, child care centre staff. AND... if we can pull off a TV show, that will further boost interest in the area!
The village will provide attractive and valuable facilities that locals will be able to use also.
“It’s a new day. It’s a new life… and I’m feelin good!”
It’s an idea whose time has come!
Here you will find some references from clients that we have worked with... we are very proud of the references, we enjoyed the projects that we designed and had built for the clients and very happy that they enjoyed the experiences as well as now living in the houses. Will you be the next?
Greetings!
For us to design your new house, we need to get to know you. We are not like the great American architect,
Frank Lloyd Wright who
moved into a new client's house for a couple of weeks so he could
observe their way of living! But we do need answers to the following
questions because it is to be your building with your personality, it will not
be designed as a monument to our style of architecture or us!
The more you tell us, the better the result for you. Much of what is in
this may not be appropriate or unnecessary for you to fill in! Rather than
me spend time guessing your needs and so adjusting the clauses, just
ignore them and add your own items for our consideration if I have
missed something. By the way, this is worth doing because it will make
you crystalize what you want and need in your new home. Just type in
your answers at the end of each question if it is appropriate.
So, prepare for a potentially exciting ride......... but BE REALISTIC WITH
YOUR DEMANDS unless you have an open budget. You will be amazed
at what we can do for you but we are not magicians that can create
homes from nothing!!
If you scroll down further, you will find the questionnaire / brief for you to answer and then send to us.
A. Who is the client/s?
Type in your answers:
B. What is your current street address?
Type in your answers:
C. Is your address a town property or rural property? Do you know the
zoning of the property?
Type in your answers:
D. Do you believe there are physical restrictions which would affect us
delivering your new home to you?
Type in your answers:
E. What are your telephone numbers?and your email address?
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F. Have you worked with an architect before, if so, who?
Type in your answers:
G. Have you set a budget for the project? How much? Be realistic
and honest. We will make a proposal based on this figure and
design the house accordingly.
Type in your answers:
H. Are you interested in our world exclusive
Type in your answers:
I. If you would like us to use conventional construction are there
particular materials that appeal to you inside and outside your
house?
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J. What is your time frame for this project?
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K. What is the address of the site and is it on Google Earth?
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L. What is your occupation?
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M.Do you plan to be an “Owner Builder” or engage a building
contractor?
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N. Have you any building experience?
Type in your answers:
1. Do you need a planning permit or development
approval?
Type in your answers:
2. Are there any design guidelines that affect what you can build on
your site? If so we need to have a copy of them before we start design.
Type in your answers:
3. Are there any covenants or restrictions on the site? We need a copy
of the title.
Type in your answers:
4. Has a survey been done to indicate the contours of the land?. If the
land is not flat, we need a plan with contours on it and to an indicated
scale.
Type in your answers:
5. What are the specific regulations relative to building distance from all
boundaries? If there is nothing on the title, we can get the answer to this
question from Council.
Type in your answers:
6. What is the name of the council and can you provide a telephone
number for contact with them?
Type in your answers:
7. Is there a fire rating for the site been established? What is the BAL
rating? (Above BAL 40 can be difficult and expensive.) If you haven’t
purchased yet, check the fire risk!
Type in your answers:
8. Are you seeking to build a 1, 2 or 3 storey house?
Type in your answers:
9. A separate Entrance Hall? With Furniture in it? Guest toilet/powder
room attached?
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10. Lounge? a separate room? to seat how many? with TV? fireplace gas
or wood? what other furniture?
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11. Dining, to seat how many at long? square or round table? with side-
board?
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12. Kitchen to be a separate room or open plan to a family room?
Separating island bench? Breakfast bar to seat how many?
Type in your answers:
13. What kitchen appliances do we plan for? Have you selected them
and the models? Wall Oven, Steam Oven, Microwave Oven? What size
and type of cook top? Gas Cooker, under bench oven with cook top
above? Dish washer? Build-in coffee machine? Separate upright
refrigerator and freezer? What size? To be integrated? Double bowl,
single or 3 bowl sink with drainer? Commercial dishwasher in scullery
area?...... FOR BIG FAMILIES!
Type in your answers:
14.Pantry or pantry cupboard? Cool room?
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15 Is the cook left or right handed? How tall is the cook?
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16.Family room? (a second living room), What furniture? For instance if
you want video sports like golf, we can provide it at a cost of around
$40k. Billiard table? Adjoining a guest suite?
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17. Laundry with trough? Washing Machine with Dryer over or beside?
Separate ironing board fitted to wall or loose?
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18. Bedroom 1. What furniture and sizes?
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19. Dressing room with how long wall space for hanging clothes?
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20. En-suite: With bath/ spa bath, separate shower recess? 1 or 2 Vanity
basins, Bidet? Separate toilet or combined?
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21. Bedroom 2. What furniture? Wardrobes?
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22. Bedrooms 3,or 4,or 5? What furniture? Wardrobes, desk? How many bedrooms?
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23. House bathroom? What is to be in it? Separate toilet?
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24, Study / office What size? Book Shelves? Furniture?
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25. Garage or carport for how many cars? Which side of the Building?
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26. Layout of the house? Rectangular, L- shaped, courtyard, terrace, or
what? The site will dictate this largely.
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27. Outdoor living important, What space do you need for what
activity? Tennis Court?
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28. Swimming pool, water features, tanks?
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29. Any other rooms? Home Office? Library? Sewing room / workshop?
Games Room? Billiard or Table tennis table? Cellar?
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30. Powder room with toilet and basin?
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31. Garden room / tool shed, sizes?
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32. CONSTRUCTION TYPE: For floor, walls and roof? Is the site flood
prone? Do we have to raise the floor or should it be concrete slab on the
ground?
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32. Windows type?
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33. Ceiling heights?
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34. What materials do you like?
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35. Have you selected a style of building that you like? Have you a
collection of “Ideas”?
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36. Are you to be an owner builder? What are you capable of doing on
the house? If you need finance, have you checked your bank for owner
builder?We need to know how you are financing the build.
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37. Where would you like to locate the house on the site? Is there a view
that you want to capture? Which direction? From the best location for
view, draw an arc indicating the extent of the view from that location.
To enjoy the view to the max, should the floor/s /decks be raised off the
natural ground? Did you take photos of the site? Any neighbor houses to
consider? (for your privacy) And you must consider their privacy .... by planning regulations!
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38. Is there a cool prevailing wind in the summer? If so, from what
direction?
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39. What are the names of the occupants for the house? Children, their
gender and ages? What do the kids want in their rooms.
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What bathrooms for kids?. I suggest 1 sep. toilet with basin, shower room
with basins, 1 bathroom. (not combined.)
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Need to consider hotwater so you don’t have to wait for water to come
a hundred meters to a shower!!
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40. Any favourite colours? Front doors, or would you like Frank Lloyd
Wright leadlights... I can get them from China!! Of course natural wood
for the "great room" ceiling internally.
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41. Privacy...... do you want the master bedroom away from the other
bedrooms?
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42. Is the house for you to live in as a home or is it an investment property
to turn over?
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43. Where you live now, what are the sizes of the rooms and do you
want to upsize or downsize with the new house? What
is the area of that house?
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44. Style? Are you looking for discreet minimalism or unique WOW?
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45. What floor surfaces do you want in each area?
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46. Where does energy efficiency come into the design for you?
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47. Do you want to use maximum eco/green products? PV cells, wind
turbines, generator as well?
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48. What kind of heating and cooling? Hydronic wall panels (the best
performing), floor heating, ducted air conditioning for cooling or both?
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49. Do you want maximum cross Ventilation?
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50. Do you like to wake naturally in the mornings? What time?
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51. Are you day or night people?
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52. Do you like lots of natural light? Big Windows? Bringing the outside
into the house?
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53. What is the neighbourhood like?
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54. Is landscaping important to you? Vegetable Garden? Fruit Trees?
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55. Any pets? What do we need to consider for dogs? An enclosed yard
and shelter for when you are away?
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56. What else do you want us to consider?
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Once we have received your answers to all these questions, then we
can respond to any questions, and commence design.